With the warmer weather here and many people beginning to make their way to the beach, the issue of skin cancer and sun protection is more important than ever. Just in time for the summer, a team of researchers from the Mediterranean Center for Molecular Medicine (C3M) has created and developed new drugs for melanoma, a highly aggressive form of skin cancer.
In particular, one of the team's drugs - HA15 - decreases the viability of melanoma cells without posing any sort of toxicity to normal cells.
Melanoma affects melanocytes, which are the cells that create melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color. Tumor progression occurs in three stages: radial growth, vertical growth and the final metastatic stage.
Current research has produced positive results for the treatment of the metastatic stage using targeted therapies and immunotherapies. However, patients typically require additional treatments to prevent tumor growth from returning and avoid the development of more metastases.
Identifying new drug candidates is a crucial aspect of skin care treatment in order to develop new biotherapies to fight melanoma, especially in the face of the rising incidence rate of this particular form of cancer, which is doubling every 10 years.
In its search for such drug candidates, the team of researchers from C3M revealed a new family of drugs called the thiazole benzensulfonamides (TZB), which appear to have anticancer properties.
"Initially this family of drugs was identified in type 2 diabetes, as it increased the sensitivity of cells to insulin," said Stéphane Rocchi of C3M and senior author of the study. "If we wanted to use it against cancer, we had to be able to eliminate this proinsulin activity. Thus we started to modify its structure."
After numerous attempts, the team successfully altered the initial TZB structure through collaboration with a team of researchers from the Nice Institute of Chemistry. The resulting formulation contains HA15 as its "lead compound."
Skin cancers such as melanoma can develop due to exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun. Failure to use proper sun protection can cause UV damage and lead to a wide range of problems.
"My general sense is that people are much more savvy about sun exposure," said Colette Pameijer, a surgical oncologist from the Penn State Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center who wasn't involved in the study.
The findings were published online May 26 in Cancer Cell.
