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posted by n1 on Monday June 19 2017, @02:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the bronze-gods dept.

Is your skin naturally toned from a UV tanning bed, or are you on salt-inducible kinase inhibitors?

A new compound promises to give human skin a suntan without the sun. The compound hasn't yet been tested in clinical trials—just in mice and on patches of human skin leftover from surgeries. But doctors are hopeful it could one day combat skin cancer by keeping people away from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.

"Assuming there are no safety concerns, it is clearly a better option than UV exposure," says Jerod Stapleton, a behavioral scientist at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick who studies indoor tanning and was not involved in the work. "We are talking about millions of young people potentially not using tanning beds each year. ... It could be a game-changer for skin cancer prevention."

The advance has its origins in a strain of "redhead" mice with rust-colored fur. The rodents harbor a variant of a gene called MC1R that gives rise to red hair and fair skin in humans. A properly functioning MC1R gene encodes a receptor that sits on the surface of skin cells called melanocytes, which transmit a signal to crank out dark melanin pigments; these pigments help protect skin cells from UV radiation. The redhead version of the receptor doesn't respond to the make-more-melanin signal, which explains why redheaded humans tend to burn, not tan.

David Fisher, a dermatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, reasoned that he could help people tan by finding a way to stimulate this melaninmaking pathway. He and chemist Nathanael Gray of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston targeted a protein called salt-inducible kinase (SIK), which works like a master off switch in the melanin factory. They bought a molecule known to inhibit SIK from a chemical supplier, and applied the compound as a liquid to the shaven backs of the redhead mice. After 7 days of daily treatment, the mouse skin turned "almost jet black," Fishers says. The tan was reversible though, and the rodents' skin tone returned mostly back to normal in about 2 weeks. Fisher notes that were no apparent safety concerns, but this would need to be tested more rigorously before human application.

A UV-Independent Topical Small-Molecule Approach for Melanin Production in Human Skin (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.05.042) (DX)


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Monday June 19 2017, @01:07PM

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Monday June 19 2017, @01:07PM (#527878) Homepage Journal

    Let me tell you folks, I've always wanted melanin. More than anything. But believe me, spelling can be a bitch. As can wives. Some wives. A lot, a lot of wives can be bitches. Guys -- men -- this is for the men out there. Men, let me tell you something. There's nothing really nice about it. But in our world -- with the long courts and with the vicious lawyers, and with all of the problems -- if you have money or if you think you're going to have money, you have to have a prenuptial agreement. Look at Jamie. Look at Jamie Dimon from JP Morgan. Great guy, very smart cookie. So he's gonna be worth like $18, $19 billion, you're telling me he's got a girlfriend, does he get a prenuptial agreement? They get married, and then for some reason over the next couple of years they get divorced and then she sues him for $10 billion and she hits the jackpot. In New York, she would get a big chunk of what he has. Horrible, horrible mistake. So don't be a schmuck, don't get schlonged by your wives. Always get a prenup. And I love this discovery for the melanin. Don't tell me about safety concerns. Let me tell you about safety concerns. So my skin looks OK. I got a little spray. Give me a little spray. You know you’re not allowed to use tanning spray anymore because it affects the ozone. You know that, right? I said, "You mean to tell me" -- because you know, tanning spray’s not like it used to be. It used to be real good. When I put on that tan, look it, my tan. Give me a mirror. Today you put the tanning spray on and it’s good for twelve minutes, right? They say you can’t. I said, "Wait a minute, so if I take tanning spray and I spray it in my apartment which is all sealed, you’re telling me that affects the ozone layer?" Yes? I say: no way, folks. No way.

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