Congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN) are pigmented birthmarks that affect up to 80% of the skin surface area. The increased frequency of CMN in families of severely affected individuals is suggestive of a predisposing germline genotype. We noted a high prevalence of red hair in affected families, and considered a role for MC1R in this condition. A cohort of 166 CMN subjects underwent pigmentary ph...

Melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene variants are associated with red hair and fair skin color. We assessed the associations of common MC1R genotypes with the risks of 3 types of skin cancer simultaneously in a nested case-control study within the Nurses' Health Study (219 melanoma, 286 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and 300 basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cases, and 873 controls). We found that the ...

Melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) plays an important role in determining the cutaneous response to ultraviolet radiation and may also influence melanoma progression. We have previously shown that variants of the melanocortin receptor present on melanocytes, MC1R, are associated with sun sensitivity and red hair in a UK population and therefore now consider the gene as a candidate for melanom...

Cleavage and polyadenylation is an essential processing reaction required for the maturation of pre-mRNAs into stable, export- and translation-competent mature mRNA molecules. This reaction requires the assembly of a multimeric protein complex onto a bipartite core sequence element consisting of an AAUAAA hexamer and a GU/U-rich downstream sequence element. In this study we have analyzed 3' end...

Agouti protein and Agouti-related protein (Agrp) are paracrine-signaling molecules that normally regulate pigmentation and body weight, respectively. These proteins antagonize the effects of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) and other melanocortins, and several alternatives have been proposed to explain their biochemical mechanisms of action. We have used a sensitive bioassay bas...

BACKGROUND Red hair color is caused by variants of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene. People with naturally red hair are resistant to subcutaneous local anesthetics and, therefore, may experience increased anxiety regarding dental care. The authors tested the hypothesis that having natural red hair color, a MC1R gene variant or both could predict a patient's experiencing dental care-relat...

BACKGROUND Evolution depends on natural selection acting on phenotypic variation, but the genes responsible for phenotypic variation in natural populations of vertebrates are rarely known. The molecular genetic basis for plumage color variation has not been described in any wild bird. Bananaquits (Coereba flaveola) are small passerine birds that occur as two main plumage variants, a widespread ...

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to characterize the DNA polymorphisms of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene in indigenous Saudi Arabian sheep breeds exhibiting different color coats, along with individuals of the Sawaknee breed, an exotic sheep imported from Sudan. METHODS The complete coding region of MC1R gene including parts of 3' and 5' untranslated regions was amplified and sequen...

Summary Individual variation in opioid sensitivity can have a profound impact on the safety and efficacy of equine veterinary treatments, with ability to adequately manage pain clinical setting currently limited. This review aims explore overlap between biological mechanisms associated metabolism those coat colour horses as has been documented humans, particular focus melanocortin‐1 receptor (M...

Generalized hyperpigmentation (GHPT) of the skin may occur as a primary defect of pigmentation or in combination with other variable manifestations. It is visible in a number of diseases such as Addison’s disease (AD), haemochromatosis, porphyria cutanea tarda, scleroderma and neurofibromatosis, but it can also be associated with malignancy and the use of chemotherapeutics or it can be related ...