Screening for skin cancer

Identify biomarkers for skin cancer risk prediction and prevention

Professor Catherine Harwood and Professor Daniel Pennington

Awarded £489,534

Skin cancers are common human malignancies. Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) is the second most common skin cancer with over 50,000 UK cases each year.

CSCCs are usually treated by surgery but represent a significant burden for patients and healthcare resources. Most CSCC develop from actinic keratoses (AK), pre-cancers caused by sun exposure. Less than 1% of AKs progress to CSCC and some regress without treatment. However, factors determining AK fate are poorly understood and so personalised AK treatment is not yet feasible.

As immune-suppressed patients develop CSCC at increased frequency, this project will explore whether immune system status in AK provides a marker and potential driver of progression to CSCC. This would improve our understanding of AK and identify changes that predict skin cancer risk and inform new targets for skin cancer prevention.

Histology of cancer tissue