Tanning Salon Case Study

1. Tanning salons have become increasingly popular, particularly among young white women.

a) In 2-3 sentences, explain how the use of tanning salons leads to a darkening of skin.

b) What are two specific long-term risks of using tanning salons?

a) Tanning beds in tanning salons produce UV light/rays, which hits skin and produces melanin, thus making skin to appear to be darker. Melanin exists to absorb UV light to prevent damage to DNA and protect from cancer. Melanin is produced by a melanocyte and is taken up by the skin’s keratinocytes.

b) A major long-term risks of using tanning salons include an increase risk of cancer, including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma as well as the often deadly melanoma (up to 75% greater

Some explanations for White women’s increased risk includes not having children, putting off childbirth, having fewer children, utilizing hormone therapy after menopause, utilizing certain birth control (Race, ethnicity, and breast cancer, 2015), and drinking alcohol (Wu, Liu, & Chung, 2012), all of which increases risk. Possible explanation for low risks among Asian/Pacific Islanders is often attributed to keeping the diet similar to their Asian country which is often a more healthier diet (Wu, Liu, & Chung); among Hispanics is attributed to a specific genetic variant that reduces incident (Fejerman et al., 2014); and among American Indian and Alaska Native women may be attributed a lack of reporting of cases within the community and misclassification of the AI/AN race (Wingo et al, 2008); furthermore, women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent tend to have higher indecent rates of breast cancer due to the high prevalence of the BRCA1 and BRCA 2 gene mutations (Race, ethnicity, and breast

Cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth.

a) In 2-3 sentences, describe the difference between proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes.

b) Look up an example of a tumor suppressor gene (not Rb or VHL). In 2-3 sentences, explain its function and describe one cancer that it is associated with.

a) Proto-oncogenes are normal growth genes that can lead to cancer if it mutates or makes too many copies. Proto-oncogenes are normal functioning oncogenes, yet transform/mutate into an oncogene (for example, by overexpression) which is a cell with a loss of growth control thus causing cancer. A tumor suppressor gene codes for proteins that inhibit or stop cell growth (and also repairs DNA and programs cells to die) which, when mutated and can cause uncontrolled growth leading to cancer.

b) FasR, the FAS receptor is a tumor suppressor gene located on chromosome 8 in humans. FasR programs cells to induce cell death. Low expression of FasR in lung cancer tumor cells has been shown to correlate with a poorer prognosis because the cancerous tumor cells are not getting as many signals to die, thus growth among the cancerous cells are more rapid (Sathiah et al,