Solar Simulated Light Induces Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Inbred Mice: A Clinically Relevant Model to Investigate T-Cell Responses

Abstract

More than one million cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (cSCCs) are diagnosed annually in the United States (Rogers et al., 2015). The main causal factor of cSCC is UV exposure from sunlight, which is made of 95% UVA and 5% UVB at the Earth’s surface. UVA and UVB cause cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers in DNA and oxidative damage through the formation of ROS. The ratio of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers to oxidative DNA damage products is ∼800 times greater in UVB than in UVA (Zhang et al., 1997). In addition, UVA and UVB have distinct effects on keratinocyte signaling pathways, including apoptosis (Bito et al., 2010; Syed et al., 2012).