Role of brm in skin tumour progression from benign to malignant

澳大利亚是世界上皮肤癌发病率最高的国家。皮肤癌是所有其他癌症总和的3倍，而且发病率还在继续增加，特别是在老龄化人口中。皮肤癌是由暴露在阳光中的紫外线辐射引起的。紫外线辐射会导致太阳角化病或太阳黑子的出现，这是一种对人类健康不是特别危险的良性病变。其中一些会发展成恶性鳞状细胞癌，可以扩散到其他组织，并有可能致命。关于日光性角化病发展成鳞状细胞癌的生物学机制，人们知之甚少。我们已经确定BRM基因参与了这一过程。以前还没有人认识到这个基因对皮肤癌的发展很重要，因此我们的初步研究已经确定了一个潜在的新靶点。我们将研究该基因在紫外线诱导的皮肤癌发生中的作用，确定它在人类皮肤癌中是否受到紫外线辐射的突变，以及在皮肤癌发生中的一些关键生物学过程中发挥什么作用。这项研究将扩大我们对人类皮肤癌发生过程中恶性转化的理解，皮肤癌是澳大利亚最常见的人类癌症。

Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world. Skin cancer is 3 times as common as all other cancers combined and continues to increase in incidence, particularly in the aging population. Skin cancer is caused by exposure to the ultraviolet radiation found in sunlight. Ultraviolet radiation causes the appearance of solar keratosis, or sunspots, benign lesions that are not particularly dangerous to human health. Some of these develop into malignant squamous cell carcinomas that can spread to other tissues and are potentially fatal. Little is known about the biological mechanisms involved in solar keratosis development into squamous cell carcinomas. We have identified the gene brm as being involved in this process. It has not previously been recognised that this gene is important for skin cancer development and therefore our preliminary studies have identified a potential new target. We will study the role of this gene in ultraviolet radiation induced skin carcinogenesis, determine whether it is mutated by ultraviolet radiation in human skin cancer, and what role in plays in some key biological processes in skin cancer development. This study will expand our understanding of malignant conversion during human skin carcinogenesis, the most prevalent human cancer in Australia.