14 DAY TRIAL // Not that there is anything even remotely funny or entertaining about eczema, but, as it turns out, being diagnosed with one such medical condition can sometimes have its perks.
Researchers with King's College London in the United Kingdom explain that, according to evidence at hand, people who develop eczema at some point in their lives are less vulnerable to skin cancer.
In a paper published in the journal eLife, the King's College London scientists detail that, after carrying out a series of experiments on mice, they found that eczema is linked to a lower risk of skin cancer.
The eczema that these researchers focused on during this investigation was one resulting from defects in the skin. Specifically, the mice suffering with this condition lacked three skin barrier proteins.
When exposed to two chemical compounds known to cause cancer, these so-called knock-out mice developed an average of six times fewer tumors than rodents belonging to the same species whose skin did not have any defects.
In light of these findings, the researchers theorized that, all things considered, it could happen that defects in the epidermal barrier of the body might provide some protection against benign tumor formation.
As detailed by EurekAlert, the scientists suspect that the mice that developed fewer tumors did so thanks to an exaggerated inflammatory reaction that helped them shed potentially cancerous cells from their skin.
In turns, this exaggerated inflammatory reaction was likely the result of an immune response triggered by the eczema that they were suffering from, the King's College London researchers further detail.
“These findings that eczema can protect individuals from skin cancer support theories linking allergies to cancer prevention and open up new avenues for exploration whilst providing some (small) comfort for those suffering from eczema,” says Dr. Mike Turner with the Wellcome Trust.
“We are excited by our findings as they establish a clear link between cancer susceptibility and an allergic skin condition in our experimental model. They also support the view that modifying the body's immune system is an important strategy in treating cancer,” adds Professor Fiona Watt.
IThe World Health Organization says that, of the total number of cases of cancer documented on a global scale on a yearly basis, skin cancer accounts for one in three. What's more, occurrences of this condition in the United Kingdom are now five times more frequent than they were back in the 1970s.
“Skin cancer is on the rise in many countries and any insight into the body's ability to prevent tumor formation is valuable in the fight against this form of cancer,” Dr. Mike Turner wishes to stress.