Previously, acne and its effects on psychological well-being have mostly been studied unilaterally in the western population. This study was aimed to investigate bidirectional relationship between acne and stress using Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check (ASLEC) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) surveys from inhabitants of central China. An on-line survey of 2,284 high school and college students from central China was conducted using three questionnaires posted on Chinese professional survey website, the Questionnaire Web. The prevalence and severity of acne were determined using the Pillsbury grading, whereas, the role of stress in acne formation was ascertained by the ASLEC scale. The HADS was employed to assess the psychological well-being. A total of 50.61 % of high school and college students in central China were found to be suffering from acne for more than 6 months, and 19.72 % of them were graded as having severe acne. Negative life events were found to accelerate the occurrence and exacerbation of the condition. Acne-affected groups showed significantly higher HADS-A (HADS-anxiety) and HADS-D (HADS-depression) scores than the controls (7.31 and 7.28 vs. 4.37 and 3.85, respectively; p < 0.01). Despite the apparent neglect of acne in Chinese high school and college students, a close bidirectional relationship was found to exist between stress and acne. It is incumbent on the healthcare professional to introduce school-based educational programs to help students with knowledge and management of acne and prevent the consequent psychological disorders.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are frequently aberrantly expressed and involved in many cancers, including melanoma. GAS6‐AS2 was a recently identified cancer‐related lncRNA. However, the expression, roles, and functional mechanisms of GAS6‐AS2 in melanoma remain unknown. In this study, we found that lncRNA GAS6‐AS2 is significantly elevated in melanoma tissues and cells. Elevated expression of GAS6‐AS2 is positively correlated with advanced stages and poor prognosis in melanoma. Functional assays demonstrated that ectopic expression of GAS6‐AS2 promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of melanoma cells. In contrast, knockdown of GAS6‐AS2 inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis of melanoma cells. Furthermore, in vivo functional assays showed that GAS6‐AS2 promotes melanoma xenograft growth. Mechanistically, we found that GAS6‐AS2 upregulates GAS6 expression, promotes GAS6 secretion, and activates AXL/AKT/ERK signals. The expression of GAS6 was positively correlated with that of GAS6‐AS2 in melanoma tissues. In addition, deficiency of GAS6 reverses the biological roles of GAS6‐AS2 overexpression in melanoma cell proliferation and apoptosis. Collectively, our data identified GAS6‐AS2 as an oncogenic lncRNA in melanoma via activation of GAS6/AXL/AKT/ERK signals. Our data suggested that GAS6‐AS2 may be a novel potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for melanoma.