BACKGROUND: One of the best allies against sunburn and skin cancer could be a summertime favorite -- black raspberries! Researchers at the Ohio State University Medical Center have created a topical gel that slows the growth of squamous cell carcinomas of the skin in mice exposed to UVB radiation, the most dangerous light for humans. UVB radiation inflames the skin, resulting in sunburn. Scientists believe that this light causes most of the non-melanoma skin cancers diagnosed in the United States each year. Squamous cell carcinoma of the skin is the second-most common cancer in the U.S., with an estimated 250,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

INFLAMMATION LINKED TO CANCER: Many studies have demonstrated a link between inflammation and cancer. Normally, inflammation -- the reddened area from a sunburn -- is tightly managed by a complex network of repair and growth factor mechanisms. When these signals are mistakenly left on or shut off, some scientists believe it could be a result of DNA damage or oxidative stress, and then cancer can take root and grow.

RASPBERRIES TO THE RESCUE: Anne VanBuskirk, M.D., an assistant professor of surgery at Ohio State’s College of Medicine, and senior author of the study says, “In terms of shutting down the inflammatory response, we’ve never seen anything like it.” Dr. VanBuskirk and her team of researchers subjected mice to acute and chronic UVB exposure. In each setting, they treated the mice with either the gel alone or the gel with the berry powder added, and compared them to controls. They measured the amount of swelling, neutrophil infiltration (cells that move in quickly when there is sunburn) and levels of an enzyme called myeloperoxidase, a marker of neutrophil activity. In the acute setting, the UVB rays produced significant edema and increased skin thickening by 67 percent in the mice treated with the gel alone. The myeloperoxidase levels rose 500 percent in that group. In the mice treated with the black raspberry gel, the scientists found that the skin thickened only 20 percent, and myeloperoxidase levels rose only 37 percent.

THE GENDER FACTOR: Whether you are a man or a woman may also play a factor in who gets skin cancer and who doesn’t. Gender may play a role in the amount of naturally-occurring antioxidants in the skin. Dr. Tatiana Oberyszyn, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pathology and of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics at Ohio State University Medical Center found there are significant differences between the genders. In studies of mice, she found male mice had a weaker inflammatory response than the females when she measured the thickness of their skin and myeloperoxidase levels. She also found the males had more extensive DNA damage in their skin and lower antioxidant levels than the female mice. The male mice also developed tumors earlier and had more tumors than the female mice. The tumors in the male mice were also larger and more aggressive.