Effects of ultraviolet radiation on skin cell proteome.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is known to cause both positive and negative health effects for humans. The synthesis of vitamin D is one of the rare beneficial effects of UV. The negative effects, such as sunburn and premature photoaging of the skin, increase the risk of skin cancer, which is the most detrimental health consequence of UV radiation. Although proteomics has been extensively applied in various areas of the biomedical field, this technique has not been commonly used in the cutaneous biology. Proteome maps of human keratinocytes and of murine skin have been established to characterize the cutaneous responses and the age-related differences. There are very few publications, in which proteomic techniques have been utilized in photobiology and hence there is no systematic research data available of the UV effects on the skin proteome. The proteomic studies have mainly focused on the UV-induced photoaging, which is the consequence of the long-term chronic UV exposure. Since the use of proteomics has been very narrow in the photobiology, there is room for new studies. Proteomics would offer a cost-effective way to large-scale screen the possible target molecules involved in the UV-derived photodamage, especially what the large-scale effects are after the acute and chronic exposure on the different skin cell populations.