The effect of short-term application of PABA on photocarcinogenesis

Photocarcinogenesis was induced in 90 lightly-pigmented hairless mice using a Philips Tl 40 W/12 light source which emits mainly UVB (290-320 nm). During one-third of the induction period (weeks 16-26) a group of 30 mice were protected by topical para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) and then irradiated again without protection up to week 30 and observed for a further 10 weeks. The application of PABA resulted in a significant delay (p less than 0.05) in tumour induction and discontinuation of PABA caused an abrupt decline in the number of tumour-free animals. At the end of the study there was a significant difference in the yield of carcinomas for the PABA group, 20, compared with 78 for non-protected mice (p less than 0.05). There was also a statistically significant difference (p less than 0.05) between the weight of dorsal skin in non-protected mice compared with the PABA-protected group, the latter showing no difference from a control group of non-irradiated mice. The proportion of benign tumours in the PABA group was significantly (p less than 0.05) higher than in the non-protected group, suggesting an inhibition of the photo-carcinogenic process.