Re­searchers de­vel­op a small-mol­e­cule 'sun­less tan' to guard against skin can­cer

Re­searchers have de­signed a small-mol­e­cule SIK in­hibitor ca­pa­ble of pen­e­trat­ing hu­man skin, which could lead the way to a ‘sun­less tan’ that has the po­ten­tial to re­duce the risk of skin can­cer. The mol­e­cule, de­vel­oped at Mass­a­chu­setts Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal and the Dana-Far­ber Can­cer In­sti­tute, by­pass­es the de­fec­tive re­cep­tor that pre­vents many fair-skinned peo­ple from tan­ning and stim­u­lates melanin pro­duc­tion fur­ther down the line.

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