Researchers at Bradford University hope to find a treatment for skin cancer.

A team of experts, led by Dr Anna Nicolaou, a reader in Biological Chemistry at university, will look at the biological mechanisms which cause sunburn. It is hoped the research, which has the backing of a £230,000 Wellcome Trust grant, could find a treatment for not only sunburn but other skin disorders that are affected by solar radiation - including skin cancer.

The team will test whether skin cells called melanocytes that do not actively produce melanin (a substance produced by melanocytes) discharge inflammatory mediators, including pro-inflammatory hormones which cause the redness, irritation and swelling of the skin which is seen in sunburn.

Dr Nicolaou said: "We hope that our research will confirm that melanocytes are involved in many functions of the skin biology and have many other important effects other than tanning.

"There is a good possibility that we might develop a therapy that can prevent or treat sunburn at its early stages. We also hope that this research will confirm that people with paler skin will never tan, no matter how hard they try.

"People put their skin through such bad treatment in the hot weather in order to get a tan. Hopefully our research will convince people to look after their skin and protect themselves from harmful rays."

The team will also look at why people who tan easily are less likely to develop sunburn, contrasting to pale-skinned people who tend to sunburn easier.

They will look at whether or not hormones discharged from the anterior pituitary gland that control the production of melanin by melanocytes play a significant role in the relationship between tanning and sunburn by stimulating melanin production and inhibiting prostaglandin production.

"To our knowledge this is a unique project which is why we have the support of the Wellcome Trust," said Dr Nicolaou.

She is leading teams of researchers from the Universities of Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle who will experiment on volunteers using an ultra violet lamp to produce artificial sunlight to establish how quickly volunteers are affected. Prostaglandins and other similar mediators produced by the cells under all these conditions will be studied in detail using the state-of-the-art mass spectrometry facilities at the University of Bradford's Analytical Centre. The results will help determine the effects of sunlight on different types of skin.

e-mail: fiona.evans@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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