UV light blocks EGFR signalling in human cancer cell lines

UV light excites aromatic residues, causing these to disrupt nearby disulphide bridges. The EGF receptor is rich in aromatic residues near the disulphide bridges. Herein we show that laser-pulsed UV illumination of two different skin-derived cancer cell lines i.e. Cal-39 and A431, which both overexpress the EGF receptor, leads to arrest of the EGFR signaling pathway. The phosphorylation status of the receptor and the level of phosphorylated downstream signaling molecules i.e. AKT and the mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) ERK1 and 2 is detected by Western blotting using phosphospecific antibodies. There was a threshold level, below which the receptor could not be blocked. In addition, illumination caused the cells to upregulate the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21WAF1, irrespective of the p53 status. Since the EGF receptor is often overexpressed in cancers and other proliferative skin disorders, it might be possible to significantly reduce the proliferative potential of these cells making them good targets for laser-pulsed UV light treatment.