Skin colour and life-style related diseases: role of melanin.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	18K19735
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 59:Sports sciences, physical education, health sciences, and related fields
Research Institution	Gifu University
Principal Investigator	Nagata Chisato 岐阜大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 教授 (30283295)
Project Period (FY)	2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
Budget Amount *help	¥6,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,440,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥3,250,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥750,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥2,990,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥690,000)
Keywords	スキンカラー / 生活習慣病 / 妥当性 / メラニン / インスリン抵抗性 / メラトニン / 疫学
Outline of Final Research Achievements	A skin colour scale, consisting of six colours with gradation from very fair to dark brown tones, was created. Using this scale, study subject (n = 101) selected ones closest to the colours of the skin at the inner upper arm and the dorsal surface of the hand. The self-reported colour was well correlated with the objectively measured melanin index in women, suggesting a relatively good validity of this scale. Skin pigmentation at the inner upper arm in 792 women was inversely associated with insulin, insulin resistance, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure in women. Leptin levels but not sex steroid hormone levels were associated with skin colour of at the inner upper arm in 309 premenopausal women. Skin colour may be associated with the development of diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	概して対象者数の多い疫学的研究には、このスケールによるスキンカラーの自己申告は有用と示されたが、男性を対象とした場合は注意を要する。また、生活習慣病のバイオマーカーの中でも特に糖尿病、メタボリックシンドローム、循環器疾患に関わるバイオマーカーがメラニン指数と関連を示したことから、スキンカラーがこれらの疾患に関与する可能性が認められた。この結果は、今後の疾患自体をアウトカムとした疫学研究、臨床研究への展開を促すものである。