One week of exposure to sunlight induces progerin expression in human skin

Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) causes sunburn, suppression of acquired immunity, photoageing and skin cancer. Erythema and immunosuppression are acute effects whereas cancers and photoageing develop many years later. Skin photodamage is a complex sequence of phenomena that lead to structural and functional changes which impair the skin’s adaptive and barrier functions. The skin is also important in social interactions and the development of strategies against skin photodamage plays a significant role in dermatological research and public health [1–4]. Ultraviolet radiation damages dermal collagen by inhibiting procollagen biosynthesis and the promotion of matrix-metalloproteinase (MMP) expression. Single exposures to erythemal UVR cause a complete loss of procollagen synthesis, which persists for 24 h and with recovery at 48–72 h [4]. Studies on the genetic disorder Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome (HGPs; progeria) have shown that the overexpression of progerin, a mutated form of laminin A (main nuclear matrix protein) leads to nuclear deformation and impairment of cell proliferation. The consequences of such deformation are an alteration of histone patterns, abnormal chromatin remodeling, reduction of DNA repair processes, increase in telomere shortening and overexpression of p53, all of which initiate early senescence [5]. In young healthy subjects, the progerin expression is observed in nuclei in the papillary dermis and in the basement membrane zone, while in elderly subjects it is also found in the reticular dermis [5]. However, there is the lack of literature on the influence of UVR on progerin expression in healthy subjects. Thus, we aimed to assess progerin expression in normal human skin exposed to UVR in real life to determine whether progerin expression may be considered as a molecular marker of skin dysregulation.
The Ethics Committee of the Medical University of Lodz approved the study and each participant gave written informed consent. The study was done according to the Declaration of Helsinki and subjects were recruited by the Dermatology Department of the Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
The study population comprised 30 healthy Caucasians from whom we took 4 mm diameter skin punch biopsies from the outer upper arm. All subjects were recruited by the Dermatology Department of the Medical University of Lodz, Poland. Exclusion criteria were a history of skin disease (including skin cancer), taking photosensitizing medication...


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