N. Kobayashi et al., MELANIN REDUCES ULTRAVIOLET-INDUCED DNA-DAMAGE FORMATION AND KILLING RATE IN CULTURED HUMAN-MELANOMA CELLS, Journal of investigative dermatology, 101(5), 1993, pp. 685-689
Epidermal melanin pigment is believed to prevent development of ultrav
iolet (UV) - induced skin cancer by shielding cell nuclei and reducing
DNA damage formation. It has not been experimentally proved, however,
whether melanin reduces UV-induced DNA damage, because published expe
riments have been inconclusive. The present study was carried out to d
etermine whether intracellular melanin protected cultured cells agains
t UV-induced DNA damage and killing. Three human melanoma cell lines c
ontaining different amounts of melanin were used. Absorption spectrum,
subcellular localization of melanin, and melanin concentration were e
xamined in the three cell lines. Two types of DNA damage, cyclobutane
pyrimidine dimers and (6-4)photoproducts, were detected by an enzyme-l
inked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with monoclonal antibodies specific
for these photolesions. We found that melanin reduced the induction ra
tes of both types of DNA damage in pigmented cells irradiated with low
doses of UV in a melanin concentration-dependent manner. Almost no di
fferences in repair capacity for the two types of photolesions were ob
served among the three melanoma cell lines. We also found that the mor
e highly melanotic melanoma cell lines were more UV resistant than the
less melanotic melanoma cell lines. These results suggest that intrac
ellular melanin plays an important role in preventing UV-induced cell
killing by reducing the formation of two types of DNA damage.