Drug used to treat ALS found helpful in treatment of melanoma

 

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The drug ordinarily used to treat Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) has been found to show promise in the treatment of melanoma cells, the most serious type of skin cancer.

Research by investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) is showing new promise using a drug called riluzole which they have learned decreases the action of Gm1, a receptor that is normally produced in the central nervous system that when activated on the surface of melanoma cells increases the growth and spread of the disease. 

James S. Goydos, MD, director of the Melanoma and Soft Tissue Oncology Program at CINJ and associate professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is the study’s senior author. declares, “We previously demonstrated that we could block the signals produced by Grm1 in melanoma cells. Now we have linked blocking of the signal with a decrease in growth, migration, and spread of melanoma, a critical step in validating Grm1 as a target for treating patients with melanoma. Because it is present in more than 60 percent of human melanomas, we have an appropriate ‘bull’s eye’ in Grm1, and riluzole is proving to be an effective arrow."

Dr. Goydos observed using new combinations of therapies that target multiple pathways involving riluzole would be helpful in the treatment of melanoma, based on these current studies.