得克萨斯的研究人员说,受到太阳紫外光照射攻击的皮肤细胞决定自杀以避免成为癌细胞。这一发现可协助医生预测哪些人最有可能患皮肤癌。太阳的紫外光能激发DNA突变,这种突变可使细胞的生长失去控制而形成肿瘤。休斯敦市得克萨斯大学M.D.Ander-son癌症中心的免疫学家Laurie Owen-Schaub说,生物体为了能在强烈的阳光下生存下来就必须具有发达的防御系统,必须以某种方法摆脱这些突变。 Researchers in Texas say that skin cells attacked by ultraviolet light from the sun decided to commit suicide to avoid becoming cancerous cells. This finding can help doctors predict which people are most likely to develop skin cancer. The sun’s ultraviolet light can excite DNA mutations that can uncontrol cell growth and cause tumors. Laurie Owen-Schaub, an immunologist at the M.D. Ander-son Cancer Center at the University of Texas at Houston, said that organisms must have a developed defense system in order to survive strong sunlight and must be able to escape these mutations in some way.