BOSTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists studying pigmentation in mice have created a sunless skin tanning treatment that might also protect against cancer-causing ultraviolet rays.
Skin cancer is a particular danger for fair-skinned people, many of whom have a defect in a hormonal pathway that leads to production of the skin pigment melanin.
David Fisher and colleagues at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report the defective pigmentation pathway can be restored in genetically engineered, fair-skinned mice by direct application of the plant-derived compound forskolin to the skin.
Fisher said the resulting skin pigmentation helped to prevent DNA damage expected by subsequent exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
If the findings can be reproduced in humans, the treatment could give fair-skinned people the chance to avoid sun damage without having to avoid the sunshine.
The study appears in this week's issue of the journal Nature.
