UV radiation is known to damage DNA and cause skin cancer. Only recently, Prof. Okamoto’s team at the Medical University of Vienna has reported that sun protection might also protect from disease progression and not only from initiating cancer. Patients who reported to improve sun protection after the diagnosis of melanoma had a better outcome (survival). The electronic version of this publication can be found here: academic.oup.com/ced/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ced/llae487/7934877?login=true
There are mainly 2 types of skin cancer: melanoma and non melanoma skin cancer. Melanoma is the more aggressive type of cancer capable of metastasizing early compared to non melanoma skin cancer. For both cancer types UV radiation is regarded to be the main exogenous risk factor. In general, normal cells turn into cancerous cells due to mutations in genes which changes the function of proteins. As a consequence, cell functions are altered leading to an uncontrolled growth, proliferation and spreading to distant organs.
Therefore, health care providers warn to avoid excessive sun exposure and the use of sun beds to prevent developing skin cancer. But what about after having been diagnosed of skin cancer, especially melanoma? This study shows that sun protection could also improve life expectancy after having been diagnosed of skin cancer. The precise mechanism behind this effect remains to be elucidated however, distant effects of UV exposure especially on the immune system has been described in the past.