1. ¹Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research, Department of Chemical Biology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA
2. ²Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
3. ³The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Correspondence: Dr Allan H. Conney, Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research, Department of Chemical Biology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 164 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8020, USA. E-mail: aconney@rci.rutgers.edu

Received 25 April 2008; Revised 9 June 2008; Accepted 26 June 2008; Published online 14 August 2008.

Abstract

Irradiation of SKH-1 mice with UVB (30 mJ cm^-2) twice a week for 20 weeks resulted in mice with a high risk of developing skin tumors over the next several months in the absence of further irradiation with UVB (high-risk mice). Topical applications of 100 mg of Dermabase, Dermovan, Eucerin Original Moisturizing Cream (Eucerin), or Vanicream once a day, 5 days a week for 17 weeks to these high-risk mice increased significantly the rate of formation of tumors and the rate of increase in tumor size per mouse. Additional studies indicated that treatment of high-risk mice with Dermabase, Dermovan, Eucerin, or Vanicream for 17 weeks increased the total number of histologically characterized tumors by 69% (average of two experiments; P<0.0001 in each experiment), 95% (P<0.0001), 24% (P<0.01), and 58% (P<0.0001), respectively. Topical applications of a specially designed Custom Blend cream to high-risk mice was not tumorigenic. The results indicate that several commercially available moisturizing creams increase the rate of formation and number of tumors when applied topically to UVB-pretreated high-risk mice. Further studies are needed to determine the effects of topical applications of moisturizing creams on sunlight-induced skin cancer in humans.