Terahertz pulsed spectroscopy of human Basal cell carcinoma.

Good contrast is seen between normal tissue and regions of tumor in terahertz pulsed imaging of basal cell carcinoma (BCC). To date, the source of contrast at terahertz frequencies is not well understood. In this paper we present results of a spectroscopy study comparing the terahertz properties (absorption coefficient and refractive index) of excised normal human skin and BCC.

Quantitative measures of the effect of the melanocortin 1 receptor on human pigmentary status.

Variation in human hair and skin color is the most striking visible aspect of human genetic variation. The only gene known to exert an effect on pigmentary within the normal population is the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R). Previous studies have used a Mendelian framework to relate MC1R genotype to phenotype, by measuring pigmentary status using categorical scales.

P-locus is a target for the melanogenic effects of MC-1R signaling: a possible control point for facultative pigmentation.

Melanocortin receptor type 1 (MC-1R) is an important control point for ultraviolet ray (UVR)-induced tanning response in the skin. In this study, we show that p-locus is a downstream target for MC-1R signaling. The expression of p-locus was up-regulated by alpha-MSH as well as db-cAMP, a synthetic analogue of cAMP that mimics activation of MC-1R.