trong>Narrator: This is Science Today. Light-skinned people are more likely than others to develop melanoma. A single gene, called MC1R, greatly influences this risk and now researchers have found that people born with variations in this gene results in a particular form of melanoma that occurs among people in their 40s or 50s, regardless of skin color. Dr. Boris Bastian of the University of California , San Francisco 's Comprehensive Cancer Center , co-led the study.

Bastian: I think it adds strong genetic support for the notion that there are distinct types of melanoma. It's not just one homogenous disease entity and that we need to develop a more refined view to understand how does it arise and how do we treat it?

Narrator: Bastian helped lead studies revealing at least four types of melanomas; two linked to the sun's UV rays and two linked to gene variants.

Bastian: So, by realizing now that these are different types, one can actually analyze the role of UV light and other factors in a more refined way.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.