Why your skin stops tanning right after sunburn
ATM signaling delays skin pigmentation upon UV exposure by mediating MITF function towards DNA repair mode.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
After sun exposure, your skin cells use a special switch (ATM) to turn off tanning and instead focus on fixing sun-damaged DNA.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
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Max 5Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
After sun exposure, your skin cells use a special switch (ATM) to turn off tanning and instead focus on fixing sun-damaged DNA.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 5Publication
Authors
Elkoshi N, Parikh S, Malcov-Brog H, Parikh R, Manich P, Netti F, Maliah A, Elkoshi H, Haj M, Rippin I, Frand J, Perluk T, Haiat-Factor R, Golan T, Regev-Rudzki N, Kiper E, Brenner R, Gonen P, Dror I, Levi H, Hameiri O, Cohen-Gulkar M, Eldar-Finkelman H, Ast G, Nizri E, Ziv Y, Elkon R, Khaled M, Ebenstein Y, Shiloh Y, Levy C
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Claims (4)
Ultraviolet radiation exposure induces melanin production as a protective response, but this process simultaneously causes cumulative DNA damage in skin cells, leading to photoaging and increased risk of skin cancer.
After you get sunburned, your skin temporarily stops making tan pigment because a protein called ATM redirects another protein (MITF) to fix DNA damage instead of making color.
After sun exposure, a chemical tag (phosphate) is added to a protein called MITF, making it stop making pigment and instead team up with other proteins to fix DNA damage.
If you block the ATM protein in skin, the skin tans more after sun exposure because it can’t pause pigment production to fix DNA damage.