“New” Discovery in Skin Cancer?

[longknife]

Excuse me. Being fair-skinned and freckled, I am a perfect case of someone subject to skin cancer. Growing up in Southern California trying to be dark-skinned by all the Mexicans living around me, what a surprise that I've had basal and squamish skin cancers too numerous to count.

Now, BBC reports on this great new discovering dealing with gene mutations? Why does this not thrill me? And, all it will prove is that people will smaller amounts of Melatonin should cover up and keep out of the sun. Anyhow, read the article @ BBC News - Skin cancer: Genetic mutations 'warn of risk'

p.s., I was in my early thirties when a highly respected dermatologist told me I would have lots of skin cancers in my '50s. He was right. Best of all, he told me what to look for to reduce the chances of having deadly melanoma.

 

[strollingbones]

i just go in every 6 months and do the full body check....and stay out of the sun.....always wear a hat etc....hell i could wear a burka ...no problem

 

[waltky]

3-D printing for skin grafting may someday be possible...

Machine May Someday Print Replacement Human Skin
January 25, 2017 | 3-D printers have moved from plastic to metal, and now to human tissue.

Spanish scientists report they have designed a machine capable of printing a replacement for human skin using special bio-ink consisting of human skin cells and other biological components. The printer is in the research stage, but its designers hope it will eventually be approved for treating burn patients, as well as for replacing animals in the testing of cosmetic and pharmaceutical products.

The hands of a burn victim are pictured after she received skin grafts.​

According to the scientific report, published in the online journal Biofabrication, the printed skin has all the essential parts of the natural skin, such as the dermis (the layer of tissue that contains capillaries, nerve endings and other structures), the epidermis (the layer of cells atop the dermis), the stratum corneum (the horny outer layer), and even the collagen, which gives skin its elasticity and mechanical strength.

The skin bioprinter is the product of a collaboration of scientists from Spain's Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research in Madrid, Madrid's General Gregorio Maranon Hospital and Spanish bioengineering firm BioDan Group. Meanwhile, Chinese biotechnology firm Sichuan Revotek says it has successfully implanted 3-D-printed blood vessels into rhesus monkeys, in a bid to develop technology for mass-printing of human organs.

Machine May Someday Print Replacement Human Skin

 

[waltky]

Breakthrough study ‘grows’ skin from tissue to heal wounds by gene injection...

Breakthrough study ‘grows’ skin from tissue to heal wounds by gene injection
Fri, Sep 07, 2018 - In a world first, researchers have transformed tissue cells into skin cells to help heal serious wounds, a technique that could revolutionize care for victims of burns and other severe injuries.

The research is the culmination of a decade of work and holds promise for a variety of patients, including those with serious burns or elderly patients with bedsores and other recurring lesions. The study, published yesterday in the journal Nature, involves a technology called “cell reprogramming” in which genes are inserted into cells to change them from one form to another. “This is the first description of reprogramming of tissue cells to skin cells,” lead author Masakazu Kurita said. “I’m really excited about the results.” Kurita, a plastic surgeon and professor at the University of Tokyo, began working on the technique 10 years ago. It has been a laborious and painstaking process since then. The first stage involved identifying genes present in skin cells, but not in tissue cells, which could be isolated and then inserted into tissue cells to transform them. "We picked around 80 candidate genes featured in skin cells, then we tried combinations,” Kurita said.

His breakthrough came in 2014, when he successfully reprogrammed tissue cells into skin cells in a culture dish using a combination of 28 genes. In 2015, he moved to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California to collaborate with a team of specialists from around the world. He and his colleagues conducted about 2,000 trials with different combinations of genes, looking for the most efficient way to transform cells. Eventually, they hit upon a four-gene combination and began testing it in wounds on mice. They sealed the wounds off from the surrounding skin to replicate the difficult conditions at the center of a large burn or similar injury, with no adjacent skin to promote healing. Using the technology along with existing drug treatments, they were able to heal a lesion 1cm in diameter in about two weeks. “Our data suggests the feasibility of a completely new therapy which could be used for the closure of wounds from various causes,” Kurita said.

The most obvious application would be for severe burns covering large parts of the body, which are usually treated with skin grafts, Kurita added. However, he cautioned that the research was still far from being available to patients, with perhaps another decade of work needed before then. He wants to see research done on better ways to deliver the four-gene combination. For the study, the researchers used a virus that has been used in other work transforming cells as the delivery system for the four-gene combination, but future research could develop a more efficient delivery system specifically designed for their technique. More work could also be done on the types of drugs used to support healing, Kurita said.

There are also risks to consider. The study monitored the newly transformed skin cells in test mice for eight months and found they remained intact in their new form throughout that period, but longer monitoring would be needed to make sure the transformation was permanent. In addition, any process of transforming cells with genes carries the risk of mutations, including cancer formation. “We didn’t find any of those signs so far, but this is really short-term,” Kurita said.

MORE