New research from North Carolina State University shows that a ‘gatekeeper’ protein plays an important role in skin cancer prevention in humans and laboratory mice. In normal skin, the protein, C/EBP alpha, is expressed and helps to protect skin cells from DNA damage caused by UV exposure. The research shows that when some human skin cancers are present that the protein is not expressed.
Additionally, when the protein was inactivated in lab mice, they became more susceptible to skin cancer when exposed to UVB rays. The researchers suspect that suppression of the protein may contribute to tumour formation.
