How does ultraviolet light cause skin cancer?

When cells make skin pigmentation reach and exceed the threshold of mutation due to sunlight, they can develop into tumors.

New research by a team of experts led by biomedical professor Adrew White, from Cornell University (New York, USA) found that when melanocyte (skin pigmentation cells) accumulates some gene mutations, they have can develop into cancer-causing cells. This result was published in Cell Stem Cell.

When skin is exposed to ultraviolet rays (UV rays), pigment-producing cells release melanin from dark brown to black to protect the skin from sunlight. However, when stem cells make skin pigmentation reach and exceed the threshold of mutation due to sunlight, they can develop into tumors.

Exposure to the sun for too long will damage your skin or lead to cancer.(Photo: Medical News Today).

Professor Andrew White emphasized: "If you have mutations, melanoma will form when sunburned. Normal stimuli will only discolor your skin, in fact it may have begun to have cancer. ".

In addition, the team hypothesized that in Hgma2, the gene is expressed when skin is exposed to UV rays. At that time, it allowed stem cells to color the skin from the root of the hair follicle to the skin or epidermis where they released melanin.

The team used two groups of mice that were UV-illuminated enough to stimulate "skin discoloration" in the lab to test the role of HGma2 in melanoma. A group of mice had only skin pigmentation stem mutation, the other group combined this stem cell mutation and deleted the Hgma2 gene.

The results showed that mice with intact stem cell mutations and Hgma2 genes still developed melanoma, while mice with Hgma2-deleted genes remained healthy.

However, researchers still need more research to better understand the body's Hgma2 gene.

1. Things to know about ultraviolet (UV)