Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2010 Jun;23(3):352-64. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-148X.2010.00694.x. Epub 2010 Mar 10.
Epidemiological research consistently shows a female advantage in melanoma survival. So far, no definite candidate for the explanation of this phenomenon has emerged. We propose that gender differences in oxidative stress caused by radical oxygen species (ROS) underlie these survival differences. It is known that males express lower amounts of anti-oxidant enzymes, resulting in more oxidative stress than females. The primary melanoma environment is characterized by high ROS levels, from exogenous sources as well as ROS production within melanoma cells themselves. ROS are known to be able to promote metastasis through a wide variety of mechanisms. We hypothesize that the higher levels of ROS in men enhance selection of ROS-resistance in melanoma cells. Subsequently, ROS can stimulate the metastatic potential of melanoma cells. In addition, due to the lower anti-oxidant defenses in men, ROS produced by melanoma cells cause more damage to healthy tissues surrounding the tumor, further stimulating metastasis. Therefore, ROS may explain the observed differences between males and females in melanoma survival.
流行病学研究一直表明，女性在黑色素瘤生存方面具有优势。到目前为止，还没有出现明确的候选解释来解释这一现象。我们提出，由活性氧（ROS）引起的氧化应激的性别差异是导致这些生存差异的基础。众所周知，男性表达的抗氧化酶较少，导致氧化应激水平高于女性。原发性黑色素瘤环境的特征是 ROS 水平较高，既有来自外源性的 ROS，也有黑色素瘤细胞自身产生的 ROS。ROS 已知能够通过多种机制促进转移。我们假设男性体内较高水平的 ROS 增强了黑色素瘤细胞对 ROS 的抗性选择。随后，ROS 可以刺激黑色素瘤细胞的转移潜能。此外，由于男性的抗氧化防御能力较低，黑色素瘤细胞产生的 ROS 会对肿瘤周围的健康组织造成更大的损害，从而进一步刺激转移。因此，ROS 可能解释了黑色素瘤生存中观察到的男性和女性之间的差异。
