Ultraviolet radiation induces phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor.

Ultraviolet light in solar radiation is responsible for more than 600,000 malignancies each year in the United States alone, making it the most efficient environmental carcinogen known. Ultraviolet radiation-induced direct DNA damage is thought to be responsible for its initiating properties, while the promotional aspects of such radiation are poorly defined and only recently gaining attention. We show here for the first time that physiologically relevant doses of ultraviolet radiation induce phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor in A431 keratinocytes at tyrosine sites within 30 min. Such alteration of this major signal transduction system is probably an important step in the ultraviolet radiation-induced, epidermal cell-signalling cascade.