A Visual Guide To 6 Conditions That Cause Skin Discoloration

A visual guide to 6 conditions that cause skin discoloration | NIH MedlinePlus Magazine

Vitiligo - Symptoms & causes - Mayo Clinic

Vitiligo: MedlinePlus Genetics

 The skin is the largest organ in the human body. The skin is used to regulate body temperature, control loss of moisture, and maintain fluid balance. According to Mayo Clinic, vitiligo is a disease formed in patches where the skin loses color. This disease occurs when the cells that form melanin stop functioning properly.  Apart from that, I learned that Vitiligo isn't the only type of disease that causes skin discoloration. Addison disease Scleroderma, Hansen's disease (leprosy), Tinea versicolor, and Pityriasis alba are all the other kinds of diseases that cause skin discoloration. I believe that this is important to understand because I believe that people typically assume they have Vitiligo since it's the most common type of skin disease. Each kind of disease looks different on the skin some can be small patches and others can be bigger patches. For example, Hansen's disease is a bacterial infection that can also cause discolored patches of the skin, where the patches are flat, look faded, and may feel numb. Just one melanin cell not working can affect how a person's skin looks. I also believe a person's diet and how they treat their skin plays a big part in having skin discoloration. I learned a lot after reading this magazine on the six conditions that cause skin discoloration.

Skin Cancer in Geckos Through the SPINT1 Gene

The SPINT1 gene in geckos leads to a mutation in coloring in the Lemon Frost tumors. This gene is also found to have tumor formation in fish, mice, and humans. In addition, the gene is a very strong inhibitor specific for an activator that is involved in the regulation of injured tissues. This means that if the gene were to be mutated, the skin would not be a certain color and would be completely different.  This mutation causes the overproduction of white skin cells which gives geckos a frostier appearance and the likely chance of contracting a tumor. If a tumor were to form, it would grow into large bulges that would make it very difficult for the lizard to move. If infected, it would be ruptured and would then slowly kill the lizard in the coming years. 

Mr. Frosty, a studied gecko was found to have spots of white skin and was found to develop tumors due to a single gene. This is similar in humans because it is related to the implication in the skin cancer melanoma. Researchers had to uncover the gene responsible for the tumors by collecting the lizards' saliva and testing their DNA. Mr. Frosty was bred with different female leopard geckos which resulted in over 900 lizards in a single colony. The DNA was then tested and found to have more than 80% of the reptiles to have developed tumors made of white skin cells before they were 5 years old. The SPINT1 gene was revealed to have been responsible for mutation which was also an important gene for the large tumor formation. 

Alcohol increases the risk of skin cancer by up to 11% by causing irreparable DNA damage

Researchers from Brown University analyzed 13 studies that compared alcohol intake with a total of 95,241 non-melanoma skin cancer cases. Just one glass of wine a day increases your risk of developing certain forms of skin cancer by up to eleven percent. 

Results reveal that for every 10 gram increase in alcohol intake per day, a person's risk of Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) increases by seven percent and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC)  increases by 11 percent.  BCC and cSCC are abnormal, uncontrolled growths that arise in the outer layers of the skin, but in different cell types. It has been suggested that the ethanol can metabolize into acetaldehyde, a chemical compound that damages DNA and prevents its repair. Past research has shown white wine has higher levels of acetaldehyde than beer or spirits. 

What is Going On With the Gene CDKN2A?!

Can skin cancer and pancreatic cancer be connected? There are two genes to date that link familial melanoma, CDKN2A and CDK4. 

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(04)01469-X/fulltext?version=printerFriendly

There is a genetic mutation in the gene CDKN2A (or P16). People who have this mutation are at a high risk for developing cancer. This certain genetic topic hits hard for me personally because my grandfather had malignant invasive melanoma and then ten years later was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and not even a year later was deceased. My mother was diagnosed with invasive malignant melanoma as well about a month ago and her oncologist is sending her for genetic testing to test her for the mutation. There is a link between this P16 gene and pancreatic cancer. I believe this is a very serious and scary problem that tumors are arising in the pancreas with the CDKN2A mutation. Families from different origins and geographical areas have been, and are currently being tested.

https://www.melanoma.org/find-support/patient-community/mpip-melanoma-patients-information-page/pancreatic-cancer-and

http://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/familial-malignant-melanoma

https://www.omim.org/entry/606719

Red Heads Are Not Only Crazy But More Likely To Get Cancer As Well

It's a hot summer day at the beach and all you want to do is run into the cold ocean to cool off but there's always that one adult yelling at you to put sunscreen on before hand. We've all experienced that moment where we're thinking to our selves "I don't need sunscreen I won't be in the sun long anyway." Applying sunscreen is a hassle but for redheads this may actually save your life!

Skin cancer is the abnormal growth of skin cells- most often develops on skin exposed to the sun.

Skin cancer can be cause by the UV radiation from the sun coming in contact with your skin. Sunscreen acts as a protective layer between your skin and to some of the UV radiation the sun admits. It helps block the negative effects that UV radiation can cause on our skin cells. In a recent study it was shown that people with the red hair gene along with the pale skin and freckles gene are more likely to develop skin cancer due to a larger amount of genetic mutations. The red hair variation of the

MC1R gene had 42 percent more mutations than those without the red hair gene.

This difference in percentage between those with these genetic mutations and those with out would be equivalent to an extra 21 years of exposed sunlight. Redheads who also have pale skin and freckles have two copies of the MC1R gene whiles non redheads who are pale skinned and have freckles only have one copy. Those who only have one copy are also at an increased risk for developing skin cancer. 400 people's DNA, who have tumors, were sequenced and it was found that just having one copy of the MC1R gene increased the genetic mutations greatly. In the future more studies will be run to try and lessen the risk for developing cancer for these people with the copy of the MC1R gene. About 2 percent of the world are redheads meaning there are a lot of people at risk for developing skin melanoma, one of the most fatal types of cancer.
 

A Single Cell Shines New Light on How Cancers Develop

(Zebra fish in the lab. The tiny transparent creatures allow researchers to see cells and organs without cutting the fish open)

It was just a tiny speck, a single cell that researchers had marked with a fluorescent green dye. But it was the very first cell of what would grow to be a melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Never before had researchers captured a cancer so early. It was a cell that had reverted to an embryonic form, when it could have developed into any cell type. As it began to divide, cancer genes took over and the single primitive cell barreled forward into a massive tumor. This was the findings of Dr. Leonard Zon, Dr. Charles K. Kaufman, and their colleagues.
          The work was in fish that had been given human genes, but the investigators found the same genetic programs in human melanomas, indicating that they too started when a cell reverted to an embryonic state. Much more study is needed, but researchers say the result can help them understand why melanomas and possibly other cancers form, and potentially prevent them.
          This article stood out to me because this research may provide a way to stop melanomas from growing back after they have been cut down by new targeted drugs. So many people have skin cancer and unfortunately and a cure needs to be found. 

New possibility for improved treatment of Melanoma

Recent research performed at Aarhus University suggests that the presence of a protein, Megalin,  in a Malignant Melanoma indicates that cancer cells are aggressive. Malignant Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer in the United States. While it is not the most common form of skin cancers, it causes the most deaths. The protein, Megalin, helps and allows the cancer cells to divide and survive.

It was determined that Megalin is always detectable in malignant melanomas and is rarely found in the benign counterparts. The discovery of this protein allows for the possibility of identifying aggressive melanomas at an earlier stage that is currently possible.

I found this article very interesting because if not caught early, Melanoma spreads to other parts of the body, becoming hard to treat and is often fatal. If researchers and oncologists can use this information about Megalin to comprise a new approach for detecting malignant melanomas, it could be a new breakthrough in skin cancer, hopefully saving thousands of lives in the future by detecting the cancer earlier.

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Sun Damages DNA in Skin Cells Long After Exposure

Each year, research on the sun's affect on our skin becomes more and more abundant. If you aren't wearing sunscreen by now or are still hitting the tanning beds, this new study may finally change your mind. Scientists have discovered that the sun's ultraviolet light can cause damage to DNA long after the physical effects of sun burn have stopped, and "certain damaging reactions that can lead to melanoma-causing mutations may take hours to evolve and mostly occur after you get out of the sun."

This study was led by Douglas E. Brash of Yale University, and included scientists from around the globe. They came to the conclusion that 'radical species' (superoxide and nitric oxide) that are generated from ultraviolet light, damage DNA even after irritation from being out in the sun ceases.

These radicals react and create peroxynitrite, which oxidizes and fragments melanin polymers (a pigment that protects mammals from harmful sun rays). They discovered this by using compounds found in melanin, to create lesions (or "dimers") in DNA, which in turn leads to mutations causing melanoma, a.k.a skin cancer.

The team of scientists found that at least half of the dimers you can be exposed to come in the dark, rather than daytime. While direct DNA damage happens almost instantly, the lesions can take hours to develop. This research gives a lot of information regarding melanoma. 

I thought this article was very interesting because too many people still think that even if you're in the shade you can't be affected by the sun's rays, or that it's unnecessary to wear sun screen. Also, tanning beds are a direct feed of UVA radiation; people go to great lengths to get a tan and will practically cook themselves alive in these beds, not to mention it's highly unsanitary. I, too, was once a naive beach-goer who didn't put on sunscreen due to the fact I do not burn. I have since learned that even if you do not get sun burn, it is still extremely important to protect yourself from the sun's harmful rays, or you run the risk of getting skin cancer. 

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Gene linked to family history of melanoma

Researchers have found that there is a  type of melanoma that runs in families that may be caused by a fault in a gene that helps protect people from ageing. Researches said that these findings were found through the DNA sequencing of families with a history of early-onset melanoma. This breakthrough will help to identify the many people that are at high risk of melanoma. The study done looked at 184 melanoma cases from 105 families.

The analysis of the DNA sequencing pointed out mutations of the gene, POT1, as increasing family member's risk for melanoma. POT1 is found in a protein complex known as shelterin, which plays a critical role in stopping the degradation of telomeres. Shelterin protects and maintains the telomere from damage and regulates the enzyme telomerase, which maintains chromosome length by replacing the short bits of telomere lost during cell division. When the telomeres become too short, the chromosome cannot replicate, which means cell dies. 

"We don't want telomerase working too well because then it causes its own problems … in terms of rearrangement of chromosomes," he says.

"There is a very tight balance between how well telomerase should elongate the DNA on the end of each chromosome … a Goldilock's amount, not too little, not too much, there is this sweet spot where it is just right," says Nick Hayward. he also says that mutations in POT1 stop this process working properly, leading to longer telomeres as the telomerase keeps adding new DNA. "Melanoma is odd in relation to all other cancer types. In other cancer types short telomeres are actually related to predisposition, so it is telling us somehow the mechanism is different," he says.

 The finding that faults in POT1 lead to predisposition which will help identify people at high risk of developing melanoma.

Skin cancer and genetic mutations

In the article, Skin cancer: Genetic mutations 'warn of risk,' Helen Briggs explains that a cancer research team has discovered a new gene mutation that produces, in some cases, a skin cancer called melanoma. Things that factor into getting melanoma are: what kind of skin you have, sun exposure, and of course, family history. In the United Kingdom, around 12,000 people are diagnosed with melanoma every year. Also, approximately one out of twenty people with melanoma have a family history of it.

A discovery was made at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK, where people that have a particular gene mutation were highly susceptible to melanoma. This specific gene is called POT1, which protects chromosomes. Dr. David Adams of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute said that this finding will enable them to pinpoint who in the family has the risk and should be sent in for a screening for skin cancer. He also commented on how this gene mutation damages the ends of chromosomes and any kind of damage to chromosomes results in cancer development. Dr. Safia Danovi of Cancer Research UK advises us all to stay away from sunbeds and sunburns to decrease the risk of disease.

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The more advanced the world gets, the more we learn about things that were a huge mystery to us. The genetic achievements today are really incredible and I hope that this discovery will lead to understanding other types of cancer as well. Hopefully studying this gene will allow us to find a way to stop the mutation that leads to cancer.

To learn more about melanoma click here: http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/melanoma

To read the original article click here: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26790332

Skin cancer: Genetic mutations 'warn of risk'

This article talks about the discovery of a newly identified gene mutation that causes some cases of melanoma. Melanoma is a cancer of the skin that usually is cause by over exposure to sunlight (including tanning beds). A team led by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Insitute in Hinxton, UK found that people in mutations that switch off a gene known as POT1 are at extreme high risk of developing melanoma. The mutations "switch off" POT1, which would usually protect against damage to chromosomes. The co-author, David Adams says that the mutations cause damage to the ends of the chromosomes which has been linked to cancer formation. This discovery should lead to a better ability to find out who is at high risk and who should be screened for skin cancer. This can lead to earlier detection of the cancer which should lead to a higher success rate for treating the disease. The article also states that gene may not be limited to just melanoma, but to other cancers as well.
I think that this article shows some more promising progress towards the detection and understanding of cancer. However, I think that any excitement about this news alone needs to be suppressed for now despite the overall progress in the fight against cancer. It seems like a small step in cancer detection and is likely only a stepping stone until a prevention or a "cure" is found down the road.

Eye Color May Indicate Risk for Serious Skin Conditions

         

Eye color may be an indicator of whether a person is high risk for certain skin diseases. At University of Colorado School of Medicine, a study has shown that people with blue eyes are likely to have vitiligo, an autoimuune skin disease causes pigment loss of irregular white patches of skin and the hair. People with brown eyes are less likey to have melanoma, which is a dangerous kind of skin cancer. In the Journal of Natural Genetics, researchers look at non-Hispanic European ancestry, 3,000 new genes predispose for vitiligo. 27 percent had blue/gray eyes, 43 percent had tan/brown eyes, and  30 percent had green/hazel eyes. Americans non-Hispanican European ancestry had 52 percent blue/gray eyes, 27 percen tan/brown eyes, and 22 percent green/haxel eyes. Richard Spritiz M.D. of Human Medical Genetics said vitiligo and melanoma are polar opposite.  Some of the same genetic variations make one more likely to have vitiligo, and less likely to have melanoma or vice versa. Vitiligo disease attacks the normal pigment cells, but by over activity by one's immune system searches out and destroys early cancerous melanoma cells. People with vitiligo are at a higher risk of having thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes, arthritis, and lupus. Dr. Spritz says there must be some genes that push towards autoimmune diseases, which other genes are enviromental triggers determine which autoimmune disease occurs and when.

I think that this is interesting how by a certain eye color a person is more likely to be prone to a certain disease. I am curious on how researchers can detect this but have not came up with a solution to help prevent this.

Antoxidant Levels Might Explain Why Men Have A Higher Skin Cancer Rate

In a recent article, scientists discovered that lower antioxidant levels might explain why men are more likely to get a common form of skin cancer than women. Men are three times more likely to develop skin cancer than the average woman, and studies are showing that it could be linked to the fact that the antioxidant catalase is not as abundant in mens skin as it is in womens. The antioxidant is supposed to clean up hydrogen peroxide and other compounds like it that can be damaging to the skin. It is believed that the protein is just naturally more occurring in women than in men. If this antioxidant could be increased in a man's skin, it would significantly lower the chances of developing a form of skin cancer.

Scientists "crack the code" of Cancer

Scientists have provided the genetic code of two types of common cancers, skin and lung cancer. They have been able to catalogue each error or abnormalities of the DNA present in a skin cancer called melanoma as well as lung cancer. The DNA code for the melanoma contained more than 30,000 types of errors and the lung cancer included more than 23,000 errors. In the case of the melanoma these errors are caused by too much sun exposure, while in lung cancer the errors are caused by cigarette smoke. Cracking this genetic code will give scientists great insight in treatments and development of cancer. For example, with this code experts can figure out that a typical smoker gains one new mutation or error for every 15 cigarettes they smoke, some of which can trigger cancer. These lists of errors can be studied to find precisely which environmental factors trigger different cancers. These lists can also be highly useful in the treatment of cancer. Researchers will be able to develop drugs that treat specific mutated genes and accordingly treat patients with specific genome mutations as well as develop tests to identify tumors much earlier. Scientists from around the world are already working on cataloguing the genes of other types cancer in hopes of new, similar treatment methods. Japan is working at liver cancer, India is working on mouth cancer, China is studying stomach cancer, the UK is studying breast cancer, and the US is looking at cancers of the brain, ovary, and pancreas. It is going to take an estimated five years to complete but cracking this genetic code is a big step in cancer research.