AGE6. Skin Ageing: Focus on the Role of Inflammatory Genetic Factors in Cutaneous Neoplasia

AGE6. Skin Ageing: Focus on the Role of Inflammatory Genetic Factors in Cutaneous Neoplasia C. M. Gambino1, F. Crapanzano1, G. Accardi1, A. Aiello1, C. Virruso1, G. Pistone1, M. R. Bongiorno1, D. Lio1, C. R. Balistreri1, G. Candore1 1University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy Background: Skin aging is a complex process that involves intrinsic and exogenous causes. Photo-oxidative damage caused by UV is the leading cause of extrinsic aging of the skin, known as photo-ageing. UV damages can be linked mostly to overproduction of ROS that induces a complex molecular cascade able to accelerate physiological aging, determining a typical dermal/epidermal inflammation with an increased risk of getting skin cancer. The skin response is strongly influenced by individual genetic background. Thus, polymorphisms in candidate inflammatory genes might play a role in photo-ageing and skin cancer. Methods: A total of 30 Sicilian subjects (12 females and 18 males; age range, 65–90 years) were enrolled. From histo-pathological data, 12 subjects showed skin cancer. Their blood samples have been used to obtain DNA samples and have been genotyped for TLR4 (+896 A/G; rs.4986790), TLR4 (+1196 C/T, rs.4986791), MMP2 (-1306 C/T, rs.243865) and MMP9 (-1562 C/T, rs.3918242) using a RFLP-PCR. Results: Allelic and genotypic frequencies of the SNPs analysed were evaluated by gene count. No significant differences in frequencies of these SNPs among cases and controls were observed. Conclusions: Our results are preliminary, so it is certainly necessary to increase the sample size of our study. In fact, the possible role of these SNPs in skin-ageing related neoplasia might open new perspectives for their analysis and prevention. However, it is imperative to underline the concept that functional effects of each SNP depend on the presence of one or different environmental causes (UV radiation, smoking, etc.).