Study Discovers How Sun Affects Skin Cells
By Donna Parker • Jan 18th, 2010 • Category: Health News, Skin Problems
Although nutritional supplements such as vitamins C and E can help reverse damage caused to the skin by sunlight, skin cancer remains prevalent in today’s society. A new study has discovered how sunlight causes skin cells to become cancerous.
Findings published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, suggests that sunlight can damage a skin’s DNA, leading it to develop hazardous cells such as cancer. Currently, more than 1 million Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer each year.
A protein called protein kinase C (PKC) normally reviews the damaged cells and activates a response to fix them. However, if there is too much damage done to the cells by the sun, the PKC instructs the cell to die. When the PKC is turned off, that’s when the skin is most susceptible to damage, usually leading to cancerous tumors.
During squamous cell carcicoma, the PKC gene is turned off, which does not stop the damaged cells from redistributing and spreading damage throughout the skin.
The researchers are currently looking into a possible drug that could turn the PKC gene back on, which could possibly aid in cancer prevention.
Donna Parker
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