Discovery on Manipulating Skin Tone

Title: Discovery On Manipulating Skin Tone
Date of Publication: August 26, 2007
Found in: Medical Research News

Scientists from the University of Cincinnati and Tokyo Medical University have been searching for ways to make human skin look healthier and younger by manipulating skin tone and color. While your mind may jump right to Michael Jackson’s horrendously bleached skin, the researchers are not looking for ways to improve skin bleach. They are looking to bioengineered skin grafts as a way to even out the colors and tones of skin that is either discolored or has patches of discoloration.

Part of the function of these bioengineered skin grafts is to help cosmetic companies develop new products so that people can achieve the perfect sunless tan. These skin grafts are not meant for people who wish to completely change the color of their skin, although this is a concern that must be addressed sooner than later. If this is not addressed, it is possible that people with light-colored skin who wish to be darker and people with dark-colored skin who wish to be lighter will subject themselves to whole body skin grafts to achieve a complete change in skin color. This would exponentially increase racial tensions nationwide, and possibly worldwide. However, once this kind of scientific advancement is made, it is quite a challenge to keep it out of the hands of the wrong people. This dilemma is similar to the debate about screening embryos for genetic predispositions to develop certain inherited diseases. While that is generally seen as positive, some people are against it because they believe that screening embryos will lead to the age of designer babies, which is seen by many as unethical. The line is just as fine for this research study: why is it socially acceptable to have skin darkened so that it is tanner, but not socially acceptable to have skin lightened? It seems as if making your skin darker is not perceived as wanting to change your racial identity, while making your skin lighter is.

The research study was published in the September issue of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology journal (FASEB), and explained how, for the first time, scientists were able to manipulate skin color and tone by using cells that were previously thought to play no significant role in skin tone and color.

Researchers describe how the cells responsible for pigmentation, melanocytes, can be controlled by keratinocytes, the most commonly occurring skin cells. Keratinocytes make up 90% of epidermal cells (the cells on the outermost layer of the skin) and do not produce any pigment of their own. Working with bioengineered skin that is usually used for skin grafts to help burn victims recover posed a couple of difficulties for the researchers because they had to balance various mixtures of keratinocytes from people with vastly different types of skin colors and tones. The keratinocytes were found to produce chemical signals that tell the melanocytes to produce more or less pigment, called melanin, as well as how to distribute the pigment that they produced. Distribution is really important because it insures that the skin has even tones and colors and that there are not any patches of skin that are radically different colors from the rest of the skin on a person.

It has been known for a while that the more melanin produced, the darker the skin tone is, and conversely, the less melanin produced, the lighter the skin tone is. The researchers found that using keratinocytes from light-skinned people had a lightening effect on the bioengineered skin graft material, while keratinocytes from dark-skinned people had a darkening effect. This is incredibly important because it is the first conclusive piece of research that shows a solid link between keratinocytes and melanocytes. Additionally, keratinocytes are much easier to manipulate than melanocytes are.

Dr. Gerald Weissmann, Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB journal reported that the skin grafts were engineered so that they closely resemble the natural tone and color of the recipient, which was hypothesized to reduce the visibility of scarring. He also noted that this study is the beginning to unleashing the understanding of how and why different skin tones have evolved during the millions of years that humans have been in existence.

While it may seem that this study is only significant in the cosmetic world of medicine, this is not completely the case. The study’s senior researcher, Dr. Raymond Boissy, said that this study could also help to improve the quality of life for people suffering from pigment diseases such as melasma, vitiligo, and age spotting by making their skin look healthier. Melasma is a tan or dark facial discoloration most commonly seen in pregnant women and women on hormone replacement therapy. Vitiligo is a chronic skin condition that causes loss of pigment, resulting in irregular patches of pale skin scattered throughout the patient’s body. Perhaps if vitiligo and melasma patients had skin grafts enhanced with fully functional keratinocytes and melanocytes, the production and distribution of melanin could be altered so that the light patches of skin would gradually become darker, the dark patches of skin would gradually become lighter, thus patients would have a more even skin tone and an improved quality of life.