Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have demonstrated in laboratory animals that a compound derived from a common plant can be used to treat and prevent the most widespread form of cancer in people— the first such therapy to succeed in an experimental animal and one that may lead to therapies in people for this and other frequently encountered cancers.
The scientists reported in the Oct. 15, 2004, issue of Cancer Research that oral administration of cyclopamine dramatically reduced tumor development in mice genetically engineered to be prone to the skin cancer known as basal cell carcinoma (BCC) when exposed to ultraviolet light. Cyclopamine is derived from the corn lily, a weed-like plant that grows in mountain meadows in the western United States.
The most common of all human cancers, BCC afflicts 800,000 Americans each year, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. One of every three new cancers is a skin cancer, it says, and the vast majority are basal cell carcinomas.
“We showed 90 percent fewer microscopic BCC tumors after treating with cyclopamine, and 50 percent fewer visible tumors,” said the study’s lead author, Jingwu Xie, an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at UTMB and scientist in the university’s Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology. “Based on the microscopic tumor results, we see a potential to prevent new tumors from developing, while the visible tumor reduction shows us that this can be used for treatment. And since there’s no noticeable toxicity to mice, this therapy has great clinical promise.”