All About Skin Cancer

Acral lentiginous melanoma is the most usual form of melanoma in Asian and Black races.
This kind of melanoma forms on the skin surfaces that have no hair, and usually the parts that are seldom exposed to sunlight but researches have no findings that Acral Melanoma us caused due to the lack of sun exposure.

It is like a black pigmentation that occurs in the palms of the hands, soles of the feet and under the nails (fingers and toes).

When you detect a dark discoloration in your fingernails or toe nail, in your nail folds or any of the areas in your palms or soles it is advised that you seek a dermatologist to have it checked.

Melanomas can be cured if caught early.

*Reggae artist Bob Marley died of Acral Melanoma in his toe.

There is a finding that the disease modifying drug Methotrexate (MTX), may be carcinogenic.

Methotraxate is usually administered to people with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammatory disease which affects 1 percent of adults worldwide. Rheumatoid arthritis often leads to disability and eventually a diminished quality of life, it can also cause an early death as one who acquires it is more to developing cancer.

MTX is believed to be carcinogenic because of numerous reports about patients getting lymphoma after being treated by MTX. And the surprising thing is, tumors disappeared when the patients stopped taking the drug.
However, as of this moment studies about Methitrexate have yet to have a conclusion.

Researchers in the National Cancer Institute have discovered that a small molecule called nutlin-3A, a cancer suppressor gene has the ability to prevent cancer cells from dividing thus halting the spread of the disease. When cells divide the opportunity for mutation is high and this is what researchers are hoping to overcome with the new treatment. By preventing cells form dividing or taking the ability for them to do so, they hope to prevent the increase of the number of cancerous cells. They have also found that when the gene is activated, the cell can not only loose the ability to reproduce but even convince them to commit suicide due to the defective DNA within them thus preventing them from multiplying effectively controlling the spread of the disease.

Just recently, scientists have discovered that skin cancers such as mucosal and acral melanomas are brought about by a number of DNA abnormalities that happens in a gene called the KIT gene. Scientists say that if they can figure the mutation out, there is a great possibility of creating cures for it as well.

Melanoma is usually found in the skin, and in some cases in the eye and bowel. As of today it is known to be the most serious type of skin Cancer,Acral melanomas are usually found sprouting on the hands (palms), the feet (soles), and under the nails. Mucosal melanomas on the other hand grow in the in the mucous membranes in some internal organs of the body.

A Rutgers Professor has found that a drug that has been approved by the US FDA for treating Lou Gehrig’s disease has promising results by slowing the growth of Skin Melanoma’s, the most deadly form of skin cancer. The study is already in phase 0 clinical trials and the results have been promising so far. The active ingredient rilozole under the Rilutek brand has been approved by the US FDA for human trials according to Dr. James Goydos a surgical oncologist at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Skin melanomas are not very responsive to chemotherapy like other forms of cancer and the rate of occurrence has been doubled in the past 20 years. This is alarming for not much is available for the treatment of the debilitating disease that when allowed to spread can become lethal.

Sun lovers should be careful and still follow recommendations of avoiding exposure to the sun’s harmful rays between 10am to 4pm for sunscreens have been found to be very inefficient and can even cause more harm than protecting one’s skin. Most people think they can stay all they want under the sun for they have the best sunscreen money can buy but that has been disproved by scientists who have found some sunscreen brands to cause more damage than harm. Some even magnify the effects of the sun’s UV rays causing more damage which could lead to skin cancer. Sun block/sunscreens should be applied a couple of minutes and allowed to dry to allow them to attain their waterproof abilities. Applying it without letting it dry and getting a good grip prevents it from binding to the skin simply washing off as you enter the water. So follow the rule, no sun even with sunscreen after 10am till 4pm when the sun is at its hottest and most damaging.

Cotton has long been used as a fabric of choice for wound dressings, gauze pads and other medical applications due to its high absorbency. Treated with chitosan, the fabric encourages healing of wounds. Another product that they have come up with is a cotton fabric that has been treated with negatively charged phosphoric acid that pulls positively charges proteases out of a wound. Protease is vital for healing, but too much can results in inflammation and can even prevent healing prolonging the renewal of skin cells to shield the underlying tissue. These breakthroughs in fabric design and treatment allows better products that resist or prevent infections such as in hospitals where beddings can become a propagation method for bacteria and other applications where cloth is used.

The Agricultural Research Services has come up with a form of cotton fabric that is treated with an anti-bacterial chemical, chitosan which is found in the shells of shrimp. The said fabric is being designed to allow it to be made into bed sheets, military uniforms and many other applications which prevents bed sores and have a very effective anti-0bacterials quality to prevent infections. The fabric, if used in the battlefield is not only comfortable but absorbent and the antibacterial ability deters infections reducing infections in case of trauma or injury. The cotton fiber may also lead to more effective cotton wound dressings (gauze pads treated with chitosan are already in the market).

The research has the scientists excited for they may be onto something that would allow a better understanding of how the said MicroRNA affects the skin’s ability to fend of growth such as in the case of skin cancer. MicroRNA’s which have been found in mammals way back in 2001, have been found to have a profound influence the regulation of genes outside the cells nucleus. This research is truly promising and more updates would be brought to you as they develop. The research continues as they try to find the link between the skin’s ability to fend off attacks which could be improved with these MicroRNA.

Breaking research has shown that MicroRNA, a smaller form of RNA is vital to the formation of the skin’s protective barrier. In the research conducted at Rockefeller University, two scientists have noted than MicroRNA-203’s presence in a developing embryo creates a seemingly protective barrier by suppressing the activity of a molecule identified as p63. The inability of MicroRNA-203 cannot suppress the activity of the molecule, is the time when cells start to proliferate spreading like wildfire as shown in their research. It offers not only a view of how skin is formed but may hold the key to why normal skin cells turn cancerous.