Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug For Treating Melanoma Skin Cancer

An arthritis drug called leflunomide could now be used for inhibiting the growth of malignant melanoma. This was discovered by a research of the University of East Anglia and Children’s Hospital Boston and promises an effective new treatment for one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer.

Reporting in the March 24 edition of the journal Nature, the researchers found that leflunomide, a drug commonly used for treating rheumatoid arthritis, also inhibits the growth of malignant melanoma.

Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer and its incidence is increasing. More than 10,000 patients in the UK are diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer each year. This tumor can be removed with surgery without problems if caught early, but the survival rates for patients whose tumour is already spreading are very low. Around 2000 people a year in the UK die from malignant melanoma because the cancer has returned after being removed surgically.

University of East Anglia scientists Dr Grant Wheeler and Dr Matt Tomlinson conducted a rigorous screen of thousands of compounds, looking for those that affect the development of pigment cells in tadpoles. They identified a number of compounds that affected pigment cell development and have now shown with their US collaborators at Children’s Hospital Boston that leflunomide significantly restricts tumour growth in mouse models.

Combining leflunomide with PLX4720, a new experimental melanoma drug, the scientists found that the effect was even more powerful and this almost blocked the tumour growth completely.

The next stage is for clinical trials to be conducted into the use of leflunomide to fight melanoma. This process should be faster than usual and a new treatment for melanoma could be available within about five years because leflunomide is already licensed to treat arthritis.

“This is a really exciting discovery, making use of an existing drug specifically to target melanoma,” said Dr Grant Wheeler, of UEA’s School of Biological Sciences.

Source: insciences.org

Overview, Causes and Types of the Melanoma Skin Cancer

Melanoma is a malignant skin cancer that generates from the melanocytes. The melanocytes are cells of the skin that produce the dark pigment, melanin. The name of this cancer, as you may have guessed, comes from these cells.

There are several new cases of malignant melanoma occurring in the world each year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of new cases diagnosed each year is around 160,000 and the deaths connected to the melanoma tumor are about 48,000.

The melanoma skin cancer these days has a frequency that is increasing in the normal population. It's incidence is higher in females than in males. The ages that are affected by this skin tumor vary from 35 to 65 years. Melanoma occurs rarely within 30 years.

This tumor can be mostly found in caucasian people with fair skin that live in sunny climates. It is more common in Australia, New Zealand, North Europe and North America.

There are four main types of melanoma:

• Lentigo Maligna Melanoma;

• Nodular Melanoma;

• Superficial Spreading Melanoma;

• Acral Lentiginous Melanoma;

The major risk factors of the melanoma skin cancer are:

• an excessive exposure to sunlight;

• excessive use of the UV (ultraviolet) lamps;

• having a family history of melanoma cancer;

• light skin;

• the presence of previous skin lesions, nevi or moles;

• using oral contraceptives.

Melanoma has some early symptoms that can be recognized if paid attention to the changes of shape, color or size of existing moles or nevi, or the appearance of new lesions on the skin. These symptoms are summarized by the ABCDE rule:

• Asymmetry of the skin lesion;

• Borders: the lesion has irregular borders;

• Color: melanomas have multiple colors;

• Diameter: the lesion's diameter is usually greater than 6 mm;

• Enlarging: over time the lesion or nevus enlarges.

Visual diagnosis is the method most commonly used even by professionals for detecting possible melanoma tumors. Therefore, the ABCDE rule is a very important rule that should be learned by everyone for facing the risk of melanoma. One should pay attention to suspicious moles, lesions or nevi and report them as soon as possible to a specialized doctor.