Does Sex Have Anything To Do With Skin Cancer? Lab Study, Female Mice Get More Sunburns - Males More Tumors - Ohio State University Medical Center

April 12, 2007 – 4:05 pm | posted in Cancer / Oncology, Dermatology

Now that it’s getting warmer, you’re bound to hear the warnings - spending too much time in the sun without protection can increase your risk of skin cancer. But those may not be the only factors you should worry about. Scientists say your risk of getting skin cancer may also have something to do with your sex.

For more than 20 years, Gary Rasor has spent most of his time working outside - paying little attention to what the sun might be doing to his skin.

“Originally, no, I did not think about it at all. Didn’t wear any sunscreen, didn’t wear a hat or a visor or anything,” says Rasor.

Eventually, the sun took its toll. Gary has had dozens of tumors removed from his skin. But the problem isn’t just because he works outside so much. Scientists now say part of the problem might just be that Gary is a man.

“We found that males actually got tumors about two weeks earlier than the females, and the tumors they did get were larger and there were more of them,” says Tatiana Oberyszyn, PhD at Ohio State University’s Medical Center.

In her lab, Oberyszyn and her team studied mice with skin almost identical to humans. They found that female skin is more likely to get sunburned, but male skin is more likely to develop tumors. For some reason, male skin simply doesn’t retain as many antioxidants, which are important in stopping tumors from forming.

“What it suggests, is that when we’re treating male and female skin, in terms of protections against non-melanoma skin cancers, we actually may need to treat them differently,” says Oberyszyn.

For example, in the future, there might be female sunscreens with more anti-inflammatory ingredients to heal damage from the sun - and male versions with more antioxidants to protect against tumors. But until scientists can figure out the difference, they’re offering the same advice to everyone - lather up, cover up and limit your exposure to the sun.

Next, scientists want to see if the same results hold true in humans. They’re hoping to launch a test on men and women soon, to see if sex plays a role in skin cancer in people too.

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