Effects of Narrow Band UVB (311 nm) Irradiation on Epidermal Cells

• Adam Reich

  English

  Author

• Karolina Mędrek

  English

  Author

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is known to be one of the most important environmental
hazards acting on the skin. It was revealed that chronic exposure to UVR accelerates skin
aging, induces immunosuppression and may lead to the development of skin cancers. On the
other hand, UVR has been shown to be effective in the treatment of numerous skin diseases
and thus, various phototherapy modalities have been developed to date. Narrow-band
ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) emitting a light with a peak around 311 nm has been demonstrated
to be effective in the treatment of various skin disorders; currently it is one of the most
commonly used phototherapy devices. Despite NB-UVB has been developed more than 30
years ago, the exact mechanism of its therapeutic action remains poorly understood. To date,
most of NB-UVB effects were attributed to its influence on immune cells; however, nearly
90% of NB-UVB irradiation is absorbed by epidermis and keratinocytes seem to be
important players in mediating NB-UVB biological activity. Here, we have reviewed the
current data about the influence of NB-UVB on epidermal cells, with a special emphasis on
cell proliferation and death.

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