Study finds pinworm medication has potential to treat aggressive skin cancer
A common pinworm medication may stop and reverse cancer growth in Merkel cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, according to research led by University of Arizona Cancer Center researchers and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare but fast-growing neuroendocrine cancer that is three to five times more likely than melanoma to be deadly. Response rates to current therapies – surgery, radiation and immunotherapy – are limited, resulting in a need for effective and broadly applicable therapeutics.
“Merkel cell carcinoma is increasing in incidence,” said senior author Megha Padi, PhD, a U of A Cancer Center member and an assistant professor in the U of A College of Science. “Even though it’s a rare cancer type, it mimics a lot of properties that other cancers have.”
Pyrvinium pamoate, a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1955 to treat pinworms, has been shown to have antitumor potential in several different cancers, including breast, colorectal, pancreatic and bladder cancers. This is the first time it has been studied in models of Merkel cell carcinoma.
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