The realisation that UV radiation (UVR) exposure could induce a suppressed immune environment for the initiation of carcinogenesis in the skin was first described more than 40 years ago. Van der Leun and his colleagues contributed to this area in the 1980s and 90s by experiments in mice involving UV wavelength and dose-dependency in the formation of such tumours, in addition to illustrating both the local and systemic effect of the UVR on the immune system. Since these early days, many aspects of the complex pathways of UV-induced immunosuppression have been studied and are outlined in this review. Although most experimental work has involved mice, it is clear that UVR also causes reduced immune responses in humans. Evidence showing the importance of the immune system in determining the risk of human skin cancers is explained, and details of how UVR exposure can down-regulate immunity in the formation and progression of such tumours reviewed. With increasing knowledge of these links and the mechanisms of UVR-induced immunosuppression, novel approaches to enhance immunity to skin tumour antigens in humans are becoming apparent which, hopefully, will reduce the burden of UVR-induced skin cancers in the future.

中文翻译：

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紫外线诱导的免疫抑制及其与皮肤癌变的相关性

40多年来，人们首次认识到，紫外线辐射（UVR）暴露会诱导皮肤致癌作用被抑制的免疫环境受到抑制。Van der Leun和他的同事在1980年代和90年代通过在小鼠中进行了涉及紫外线波长和这种肿瘤形成的剂量依赖性的小鼠实验，为这一领域做出了贡献，此外还说明了UVR对免疫系统的局部和全身作用。从这些早期开始，就对紫外线诱导的免疫抑制的复杂途径的许多方面进行了研究，并在本综述中进行了概述。尽管大多数实验工作都涉及小鼠，但很明显，UVR还会导致人体免疫反应降低。解释了表明免疫系统在确定人类皮肤癌风险中的重要性的证据，以及有关UVR暴露如何下调此类肿瘤的形成和发展过程中的免疫力的详细信息。随着对这些联系和UVR诱导的免疫抑制机制的了解的增加，增强人类对皮肤肿瘤抗原的免疫力的新方法变得显而易见，有望在未来减轻UVR诱导的皮肤癌的负担。