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WRITTEN BY SULTANA YEASMIN
Introduction
Usually, when most people think about the human body, organs such as the lungs, heart, and kidneys pop up to mind. However, we seldom think about the largest organ in our body: our beautiful skin. The skin on our body is our protection, the barrier between our internals and the external world. It’s our skin that we use to touch everything in the world and it’s our skin that we live our lives in. Even though our skin provides us with all these offers, unfortunately, skin cancer is by far one of the most common types of cancer, affecting millions of people around the world every single year.
What Is Skin Cancer?
Just like all other organs in the body, our skin is also subject to getting cancer. But, in order to really understand the disease, first we must understand our skin. There are three main components of the skin: the epidermis, the dermis, and the hypodermis. The epidermis is the outermost layer of our skin and plays a vital role serving as a waterproof barrier. The dermis would be next in layering. It contains blood capillaries, hair follicles, sweat glands and many other structures. The last component of our skin is the hypodermis, playing a major role by containing connective tissue and storing fat cells (Hoffman, 2019).
In addition, our skin, specifically the epidermis, contains many types of cells that are the reasons for factors such as skin texture, pigmentation, the healing process, and even reasons for cancer. For example, melanocytes, located in the epidermis, are skin cells that produce melanin and give us our skin color. Basal cells, located at the bottom of the epidermis, aid in the production of new skin cells. Also, squamous cells, located in the epidermis, just under the skin’s surface, play a role in the skin’s lining. Now that we understand some of the basic fundamentals of our largest organ, we can dive into the specifics of skin cancer. In the most basic terms, skin cancer is the “abnormal growth of skin cells,” as defined by many clinics and research institutes (Skin Cancer - Symptoms and Causes). Skin cancer forms when affected by carcinogens, causing cancerous cells and tumors to develop.
What Causes Skin Cancer?
Most of the time, mutations in the DNA are reasons for many types of cancer, including skin cancer. However, there are always other factors that contribute to a disease this common. One of the biggest contributing factors is UV radiation, which is basically the sun’s rays. There are two types of UV rays that are proven carcinogens and can even make one’s situation even worse: UVA radiation and UVB radiation. The difference between the two is that UVA radiation is commonly associated with skin aging while UVB radiation is associated with skin burning (UV Radiation).
Types of Skin Cancer
Skin cancer is mainly split up into two sections: melanoma and non-melanoma. Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, since it has a dangerous ability to spread to other organs of the body if not treated properly during its early stages. Melanoma develops in melanocytes, the skin cells that produce melanin (Melanoma - Symptoms and Causes). To be more specific, there are two types of melanin: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin is naturally found in people of darker skin complexions and has better ability to protect from UV radiation, unlike pheomelanin which is more prevalent in fairer skin complexions and cannot be protected. Therefore, people of color are less likely to develop skin cancer as opposed to those with fair skin. When DNA damage from ultraviolet radiation causes mutations in the melanocytes, it leads to an abnormal cell growth rate and can progress into melanoma (Melanoma Overview).
The other section of skin cancer is non-melanoma, which includes more common, yet less serious types of skin cancer. Two main examples of non-melanoma skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. First and foremost, basal cell carcinoma, as the name suggests, are produced in the basal cells of the skin. Other than excess UV exposure, mutations in genes can also lead to basal cell carcinoma. For example, when PTCH1 and PTCH2 tumor suppressor genes, or genes that slow down cell division, are affected by mutations, cell growth begins to speed up and grow at an abnormal rate (Pellegrini et al., 2017).
The other most common non-melanoma type of skin cancer is squamous cell carcinoma. Just as the name implies, this type of cancer is formed in squamous cells and usually becomes cancerous because of ultraviolet light. However, just like basal cell carcinoma, mutations in tumor suppressor genes can also lead to this disease. For instance, when TP53 tumor suppressor genes, which regularly trigger apoptosis in DNA damaged cells, are affected by mutations and stop functioning properly, they go on to allow potentially cancerous cells to keep living (Poeta et al., 2008). As a result, the number of cancerous cells continue to grow, leading to symptoms of skin cancer.
Symptoms and Treatments
Symptoms of the disease are usually visible on the skin and develop on parts of the body that are regularly exposed to the sun’s harmful rays. However, they can still form on parts that are not exposed to UV rays, such as the palms of one’s hands, under the fingernails and toenails, and even one’s genital areas. Below are attached some pictures that can help show common types of visible symptoms for the types of skin cancers we have talked about.
Although there is currently no cure for skin cancer, they are all treatable by a medical professional. Some treatments include cryosurgery, which freezes off unwanted cancerous tissues and solar keratosis cells, excisional surgery, and Mohs surgery (usually for larger skin cancers). In addition, radiation therapy can be used to kill cancer cells with intense energy beams. Chemotherapy is also another treatment, using anti-cancer drugs to get rid of cancerous cells on the body (Skin Cancer - Diagnosis and Treatment). However, even while all these treatments are available, the best way to lower your chances of obtaining skin cancer is prevention…. WEAR SUNSCREEN!
WorkS Cited
“Melanoma - Symptoms and Causes.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 10 Mar. 2020, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/melanoma/symptoms-causes/syc-20374884.
“Melanoma Overview.” The Skin Cancer Foundation, 19 June 2020, www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/melanoma/.
“Skin Cancer - Symptoms and Causes.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 20 Feb. 2019, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/skin-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20377605.
“Skin Cancer - Diagnosis and Treatment.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 20 Feb. 2019, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/skin-cancer/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20377608.
“UV Radiation.” The Skin Cancer Foundation, 19 June 2020, www.skincancer.org/risk-factors/uv-radiation/.
Hoffman, Matthew. “The Skin (Human Anatomy): Picture, Definition, Function, and Skin Conditions.” WebMD, WebMD, 7 Aug. 2019, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/picture-of-the-skin#1.
Pellegrini, Cristina, et al. “Understanding the Molecular Genetics of Basal Cell Carcinoma.” International Journal of Molecular Sciences, MDPI, 22 Nov. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5713451/.
Poeta, M Luana, et al. “TP53 Mutations and Survival in Squamous-Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck.” The New England Journal of Medicine, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 20 Dec. 2007,www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2263014/.