Acaba de publicarse esta infomación que , como amante del café y por otras razones más que se imaginarán ,  me llena de alegría . Parece ser que la cafeína tópica, o sea, puesta en formulaciones para ser aplicadas en la piel, ayuden a disminuir el cáncer de piel.

Les copio el artículo en inglés:

Caffeine appears to kill some skin cancer cells, research suggests.
The UK’s Telegraph (2/27, Smith) reports that, according to a study published online Feb. 26 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, «caffeine could be added to sunscreen to boost protection against the most common form of skin cancer.» Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Pfizer discovered that «caffeine helps eliminate human cells damaged by» ultraviolet (UV) «light, which can develop into cancer, by causing them to commit suicide.» The authors concluded, «These data suggest topical application of caffeine…perhaps in a sunscreen or after-sun preparation could be investigated as an approach to minimize or reverse the effects of UV damage in human skin.»
        «Exposure to ultraviolet light is one of the most important factors in causing non-melanoma cancers,» MSNBC /Live Science (2/26, Thompson) added. «The rays cause DNA damage to skin cells, which then mutate or become cancerous.» Yet, «when damaged by UV light, some cells will initiate a kind of cell suicide program, which keeps them from becoming cancerous.» Caffeine appears «to stimulate more cells into triggering their suicide sequence (called apoptosis).» For example, «while only about one out every 500 cells will undergo apoptosis when exposed to UV, about one out of every 200 do» in the presence of caffeine.
        HealthDay (2/26, Reinberg) explained that «people shouldn’t increase the amount of coffee or tea they drink to prevent skin cancer.» Study author Paul Nghiem, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Washington-Seattle said, «You are talking a lot of cups for a lot of years for a relatively small effect.» Meanwhile, Dr. Nghiem «has also been experimenting with applying caffeine directly to the skin,» pointing out that «it suppresses skin cancer development by as much as 72 percent in mice.» He theorized that «topical caffeine preparations might one day be used to help prevent skin cancer» in humans. But, dermatologist Robin Ashinoff, M.D., of New York University’s Langone Medical Center, «thinks these findings need to be verified before they can have any clinical application.» And, Albert Lefkovits, M.D., of the Skin Cancer Foundation, «doesn’t think it’s been proven that caffeine reduces the risk of skin cancer,» adding, «Protecting yourself from the sun is currently the only proven way to prevent skin cancer.»