Gender differences in UVB-induced skin carcinogenesis, inflammation, and DNA damage

The American Cancer Society reports the incidence of squamous cell carcinoma in males to be thrice the incidence in females. This increased squamous cell carcinoma incidence has been attributed to men accumulating more sun exposure and using less sun protection than women. To date, there have been no controlled studies examining the effect of gender on skin tumor development following equal doses of UVB. Gender differences in UVB-induced skin carcinogenesis were examined using the Skh-1 mouse model. After chronic exposure to equal doses of UVB, male mice developed tumors earlier and had more tumors than female mice; tumors in male mice tended to be larger, and the total tumor burden was greater than in females. In addition, tumors in males were of more advanced histologic grade compared with those of female mice. To evaluate the contribution of differences in inflammation and DNA damage to differences in skin carcinogenesis, male and female Skh-1 mice were exposed once to 2,240 J/m(2) UVB and examined 48 h after exposure. Surprisingly, male mice developed less of an inflammatory response, as determined by skin fold thickness and myeloperoxidase activity, compared with females. Interestingly, male mice showed more cutaneous oxidative DNA damage than the females and lower antioxidant levels. These results show a gender bias in skin carcinogenesis and suggest that the gender difference in tumor development is more influenced by the extent of oxidative DNA damage and antioxidant capacities than by inflammatory response.