Researchers at IRIG have shown that blue light, already harmful through our screens, could also play a detrimental role by damaging DNA and potentially causing skin cancer.
Blue light from our screens negatively impacts our vision. Could blue light from solar radiation also affect our skin, particularly by triggering skin cancer?
With this concern, researchers at IRIG, in collaboration with Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics laboratories, sought to determine whether blue light might degrade the repair enzymes responsible for eliminating photoproducts induced in DNA by UVB solar radiation.
For their studies, scientists recreated human skin models in vitro to expose them to blue light followed by UV rays. Results showed that exposure to blue light significantly slows down the removal of photoproducts.
Researchers then repeated the experiment but applied sunscreen containing TriAsorB — which acts as a photoprotector against blue light — to the skin models beforehand. Under these conditions, DNA repair was no longer hindered by blue light exposure. Additionally, a clinical study conducted on volunteer participants demonstrated the efficacy of this sunscreen in protecting DNA during summer exposures.
This data provides key information regarding the toxicity of solar radiation and opens up new avenues in terms of photoprotection.
References:
[1] Douki T, Bacqueville D, Jacques C, Genies C, Roullet N, Bessou-Touya S, and Duplan H.
Blue light impairs the repair of UVB-induced pyrimidine dimers in a human skin model.
Photochem Photobiol 2024.
[2] Douki T, Caillat S, Bacqueville D, Genies C, Huyghe C, Duplan H, Le Digabel J, Lauze C, Filiol J, Marinescu R, Bouyer K, Questel E, and Josse G.
Nuclear and urinary measurements show the efficacy of sun-protection factor 50+ sunscreen against DNA photoproducts upon real-life recreational exposure.
Journal of Investigative Dermatology Innovations 2023.