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A genetic variant that greatly boosts the risk of testicular cancer may protect light-skinned individuals from skin cancer by helping them to tan. A team led by Douglas Bell at the US
National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and Gareth Bond at the University of Oxford, UK, surveyed data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). They focused on polymorphisms
in DNA binding sites for the tumour-suppressor protein p53. One variant, in a gene called _KITLG_, has one of the strongest effects of any pro-cancer variant identified by GWAS and was
vastly more common in caucasians. In mice, the p53–_KITLG_ interaction boosted the growth of pigment-producing cells after exposure to ultraviolet radiation, and so might protect against
excessive sun damage and cancer. _Cell_ 155, 410–422 (2013) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Two-faced cancer gene. _Nature_ 502, 275
(2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/502275b Download citation * Published: 16 October 2013 * Issue Date: 17 October 2013 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/502275b SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you
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