She and her colleagues used pieces of foreskins from newborns or breast skin from adult donors who had undergone plastic surgery. She compared the UV exposure received by the mice to a mild sunburn on humans. All the mice showed a variety of pathological changes in the human skin grafts that are known to be melanoma precursors, and one mouse actually developed melanoma. Berking says the others would have developed melanoma as well, if given more time. The growth factor bFGF occurs naturally in human skin but its regulation can be affected by a wound or inflammation, she adds.
Melanocytes are cells that make the brown pigment called melanin.
The study was published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Pathology . It's important to be able to work with human skin in this kind of research, Berking says. Especially the pigment cells. Additional factors have to come in it. Dr. Martin A. Weinstock, chairman of the American Cancer Society's skin cancer advisory group, says the Wistar research doesn't contribute greatly to public health measures to protect people from melanoma and other skin cancers.