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A widely-available anti-inflammatory prescription drug can reduce the risk of a common skin cancer in humans, according to a researcher at Stanford's School of Medicine. Although oral administration of the drug, celecoxib, is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in some people, it's possible that topical application could have a safer, protective effect for people prone to developing the cancers, called basal cell carcinomas, the researcher believes.
"Basal cell carcinomas are the most common human cancer in the United States," said Jean Tang, MD, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology, "and their incidence is increasing steadily. This work identifies a possible way to prevent them." She and her colleagues dovetailed studies in mice with a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial in humans to reach their conclusions.
Celecoxib is thought to work to prevent or slow cancer growth by interfering with the action of an enzyme called Cox-2, which causes tissue inflammation. Celecoxib has both pain-killing and anti-inflammatory properties. Chronic inflammation has long been associated with the development of many types of cancer, and celecoxib has been shown in clinical trials to reduce the incidence of colon cancer in people with a genetic predisposition to the disease.
Source: Stanford University Medical Center
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