Poster Presentation 18th International Congress on Photobiology 2024

Induction of skin cancer by long-term blue light irradiation (#304)

Keiichi Hiramoto 1 , Sayaka Kubo 2 , Keiko Tsuji 2 , Daijiro Sugiyama 2 , Hideo Hamano 2
  1. Suzuka University of Medical Science, Suzuka, MIE, Japan
  2. R&D department, Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare Co., LTD., Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Introduction: Presently, people are not only exposed to sunlight but also to a large amount of blue light from personal computers and smartphones. This blue light has various effects on the living body. However, its effect on the induction of skin cancer is unknown. In this study, we investigated the induction of skin cancer by long-term blue light irradiation. Methods: Hairless mice were irradiated with blue light (LED; peak emission 479 nm) every day for one year, and a control was irradiated with white light (LED), green light (LED; peak emission 538 nm), and red light (LED; peak emission 629 nm) for one year, respectively. Results and Discussion: Skin cancer was induced only in the mice exposed to blue light. Long-term blue light irradiation also increased the migration of neutrophils and macrophages involved in carcinogenesis in the skin. In neutrophils, an increased expression of citrullinated histone H3 and protein arginine deiminase 4 was observed, suggesting the possibility of neutrophil extracellular trap-associated cell death (NETosis).Conversely, in macrophages, inflammatory macrophages (type 1 macrophages) increased and anti-inflammatory macrophages (type 2 macrophages) decreased due to continuous blue light irradiation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that long-term continuous irradiation with blue light induces neutrophil NETosis and an increase in type 1 macrophages, resulting in skin cancer (1). Acknowledgement: This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI. Conflicts of interest: There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

  1. Hiramoto K et al., Biomedicines. 2023; 11: 2321.