More Wrinkles, Less Chancefor Melanoma

MANCHESTER, England--During routine surgeries treating basal cell carcinomas, researchers found that the more facial wrinkles a person had, the fewer carcinomas occurred. In the June issue of the Archives of Dermatology (137, 6: 751-4, 2001)(http://archderm.ama-assn.org), 239 Caucasian patients with and without skin cancer were assessed for facial wrinkling. It was found that, regardless of age, skin cancer patients had fewer wrinkles. Researchers, led by Rebecca Brooke from the University of Manchester, speculated that this association may be due to an underlying, less superficial mechanism. Transforming growth factor, a hormone which stimulates collagen formation and acts to "repair" wrinkles, is also immunosuppressive--which may make the skin vulnerable to cancer.