Some of the most deadly skin cancers may start in stem cells that lend color to hair and originate in hair follicles rather than in skin layers, a new study finds.
Hair follicles are complex organs that reside within skin layers. It is there that immature pigment-making cells develop cancer-causing genetic changes and—in a second step—are exposed to normal hair growth signals, say the study authors.
Past models of the disease had argued that sunlight (e.g., ultraviolet radiation) was a major risk factor for melanoma, but current work argues that the triggers are always there in normal follicles.
The new study, published online November 4 in Nature Communications, found that unlike their normal counterparts, newly cancerous pigment stem cells then migrate up and out of the follicles to establish melanomas in nearby surface skin before spreading deeper. The study was conducted in genetically engineered mice, with the results confirmed in human tissue samples.
Read more at NYU Langone Health / NYU School of Medicine
Photo credit: Zephyris via Wikimedia Commons
