Tea drinkers may have lower skin cancer risk

People who unwind with a cup of tea every night may have a lower risk of two common forms of skin cancer, new research suggests.

In a study of nearly 2,200 adults, researchers found that tea drinkers had a lower risk of developing squamous cell or basal cell carcinoma, the two most common forms of skin cancer.

Men and women who had ever been regular tea drinkers -- having one or more cups a day -- were 20 percent to 30 percent less likely to develop the cancers than those who didn't drink tea.
The effect was even stronger among study participants who'd been tea fans for decades, as well as those who regularly had at least two cups a day, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

However, the findings do not mean it's okay to bake in the sun as long as you have a cup of tea afterward. The researchers found no evidence that tea drinking lowered skin cancer risk in people who'd accumulated painful sunburns in the past.

Nor did the study look at the relationship between tea drinking and malignant melanoma, the least common but most deadly form of skin cancer.

Still, the findings support the theory that tea antioxidants may limit the damage UV radiation inflicts on the skin, according to the study authors, led by Dr. Judy R. Rees of Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

In particular, a tea antioxidant known as EGCG has been shown to reduce burning on UV-exposed skin.

The current findings are based on interviews with 770 New Hampshire residents with basal cell carcinoma, 696 with squamous cell carcinoma, and 715 cancer-free men and women the same age.

Tea consumption was linked to a lower skin cancer risk, even with factors such as age, skin type and history of severe burns considered. However, tea drinkers who'd suffered multiple painful burns in the past did not have a lower risk of skin cancer.

It's possible, the researchers explain, that the antioxidants in tea are enough to limit skin damage caused by moderate sun exposure, but not the "more extreme" effects of sun exposure, such as cancer-promoting damage to the DNA in skin cells.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, May 2007.

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A Skin Cancer Survivor Gives Advice To Sun Worshippers

Summer is almost here, and that means more fun in the sun, but it's also a time to think about how to protect your skin.

Most of us who spend a lot of time at the beach don't think too much about skin cancer. But melanoma, or malignant skin cancer, can strike anyone who soaks in the sun.

One retired University of Hawaii professor experienced it first hand. Dr. Travis Summersgill has been a beachgoer most of his life.
"I think that was true to the time I was a small child," he said. "I still recall getting sunburned from going to the beach and that sort of thing."

Life-long sun exposure took its toll. Dr. Summersgill developed skin cancer three years ago. But not just fair-skinned people are at risk.

"Caucasians, Asians, Filipinos, Hawaiians and African Americans are all at risk for development of melanoma," said Dr. Terrilea Burnett, a skin cancer researcher at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

While darker-skinned people are less likely to get skin cancer, they still can get it, sometimes in unusual places.

"Like in the palms of their hands or the soles of their feet or in between the toes or the fingers," said Dr. Burnett.

Doctors advise against going to the beach when the sun is the strongest.

"If you do spend time at the beach between ten and four, then you should wear some kind of protective clothing, especially for the keiki," said Dr. Burnett.

And this skin cancer survivor said beachgoers should take it a step further.

"Generally speaking, they should take an umbrella or a beach umbrella or something of that kind," said Dr. Summersgill.

Helpful tips on enjoying the sun while reducing its harmful effects.

Surprisingly, Hawaii has lower rates of skin cancer than many others states. It is not among the top ten states when it comes to new melanoma cases.

Hawaii has about 200 new cases of melanoma a year, and about 20 people die from it.

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Preventing skin cancer: Slip and slap are better than slop

Will "Slip Slop Slap," a southern hemisphere campaign to prevent skin cancer, have to be rethought?

The slogan, running especially in Australia and New Zealand, urges the public to slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat to protect themselves from ultraviolet (UV) rays that age skin and cause skin cancer.

But, according to a review of the evidence published online Thursday by the British health journal The Lancet, skin protection is a rather more complex business than this.
Wearing thick garments -- and avoiding direct exposure to the sun in the first place -- are smarter than wearing loose-weave clothing and applying sunscreen, it says.

Sun-protection strategies around the world were assessed by Swiss dermatologist Stephan Lautenschlager of Zurich's Triemli Hospital.

His team found that tightly woven, thick clothing made of denim, wool and polyester offers the best protection, while cotton, linen and acetate are far less effective.

Clothes that have shrunk after washing -- and thus are denser -- are also better than materials which are wet or have been stretched or bleached, according to Lautenschlager's team.

The review says that many people are confused or misinformed about how to use sunscreen, such as how much to apply (a liberal dose is recommended by far) and how frequently to reapply it.

There is not even a standardised method to measure the effectiveness of UV blocking, it says.

This is important, given "our global, outdoor society," it says.

"The sunscreen market -- crowded by numerous products -- shows various differences worldwide," it notes. "(...) Sunscreens should not be abused in an attempt to increase time in the sun to a maximum."

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Cancer fighting gene identified

Researchers have found that people who carry a variant of a specific gene are less likely to develop lung cancer.

The study also revealed that the variant gene can act faster and more effectively to break down a potentially cancer-causing protein.

The team behind the research is now working to see if the discovery has implications for other forms of cancer.
According to the study all humans have the unaltered gene, CYP1B1, while fewer than 10% of people carry its variant.

Dr Thomas Friedberg, who has led the work at Dundee's Ninewells hospital, said the dangerous protein was broken down three times as fast in people with the altered gene.

Having lower levels of the protein corresponds to a lower risk of developing cancer, he said, although the precise relationship is not yet known.

'Much faster'

Dr Friedberg said: "We found that the levels of this protein in cells differed depending on the type of the CYP1B1 gene.

"This was because some varieties of the CYP1B1 protein were broken down much faster by cellular enzymes.

"This in turn results in individuals in the metabolism of cancer-causing substances, leading to differences in cancer susceptibility."

He added: "We believe our findings will lead to novel approaches in cancer treatment."

In the past women who carry the changed form of the gene have been found to have lower incidence of the disease compared to individuals with the other forms of the CYP1B1, but the reason was not known.

Dr Friedberg's laboratory research was carried out over three years and funded by the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR).

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Antigen-Cloning Technique May Bolster Skin Cancer Vaccine

A new antigen-cloning technique may help advance efforts to develop a vaccine against melanoma and other kinds of cancer, a U.S. study suggests.

To date, scientists have had difficulty isolating and cloning antigens needed to develop cancer vaccines that directly stimulate immune system helper T-cells, which have receptors on their cell surfaces that can recognize and bind to tumor-related antigens, according to background information in a news release.
A team at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia says it has developed a novel method to clone an antigen recognized by helper T-cells. In this study, the scientists identified and cloned a new tumor antigen called ribosomal protein L8 (RPL8) from melanoma.

They then found that a peptide of RPL8 stimulated a response in helper T-cell clones and lymphocytes in four out of nine melanoma patients but stimulated no response in cells taken from healthy people.

RPL8, which is involved in protein synthesis and is present in normal cells, is overexpressed in melanoma, breast cancer and gliomas, the most common type of brain tumor.

This new antigen-cloning technique may lead to the development of vaccines that can directly stimulate helper T-cells to fight not only these cancers, but also infectious diseases, the researchers said.

The study was published in the April 15 issue of Cancer Research.

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