People With Light Colored Eyes Are At A Higher Risk Of Getting Eye Cancer, New Study Finds

A new study has found that people with fair skin and light colored eyes are at an increased risk of getting eye cancer. The study conducted by a team of US researchers is the first to have established a link between pigmentation genes linked to eye color and the development of rare eye cancer, uveal melanoma.

Around 2,500 people in the United States are diagnosed with uveal melanoma every year. While, clinical data suggests the rare eye cancer is more common in Caucasians and individuals with light colored eyes, the genetic risk factors contributing to the cancer's development remained unknown.

For the study, which has been published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers examined samples of more than 270 patients suffering from uveal melanoma. They analyzed 29 inherited genetic mutations previously linked with skin melanoma to determine if there was an associated risk of uveal melanoma. The research team found that five genetic mutations were significantly associated with uveal melanoma risk. Out of the five, the three most significant genetic associations occurred in a genetic region that determines eye color, reported Daily Mail.

Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, cancer geneticist from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the important study findings will pave way for future research efforts to identify and explore the interactions of pigmentary genes with other genetic and environmental risk factors in cancers such as eye melanoma which is not linked to sun exposure.

Dr Tomas Kirchhoff, co-author of the study from NYU School of Medicine, said that it was traditionally believed that genetic susceptibility to uveal melanoma was restricted only to a small number of patients with family history. However, the new finding suggests the genetic risk factors associated with the disease in uveal melanoma patients. He added that the study results have proved that "there is a shared genetic susceptibility to both skin and uveal melanoma mediated by genetic determination of eye color," reported Nature World News.