Scientists Go Green to Fight Melanoma

Article date: May 1, 2009

The American Cancer Society is the nation's largest private, not-for-profit source of funds for scientists studying cancer. Since 1946, ACS has devoted about $3.4 billion to cancer research, which has led to a better understanding of cancer and cancer treatment. Forty-two of the scientists we've supported have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.

In honor of National Cancer Research Awareness Month and Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month, we profile the work of one of our former grantees who is working on an innovative drug that may fight melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Former American Cancer Society grantee Gavin P. Robertson, PhD, of Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is part of a research team that recently discovered that a very simple chemical change to compounds extracted from cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage might help prevent melanoma.

Cruciferous vegetables -- such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, turnips, collards, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, radishes, and turnips – contain phytochemicals called isothiocyanates thought to have cancer-fighting properties. Robertson and his colleagues discovered that isothiocyanates may block the activity of Akt3 protein, which is overactive in approximately 70% of melanoma tumors and thought to promote tumor growth by preventing cell death.

The scientists decided to try enhancing the anti-cancer properties of isothiocyanates by adding selenium, which is known to disrupt the production of Akt3 protein in prostate cancer cells. They then tested the combination on both mice and human melanoma cell cultures, and found that it reduced tumor growth by 60%.

It's still too early to say whether this finding will lead to the development of a drug that may help melanoma patients, but the research is encouraging.

Reviewed by: Members of the ACS Medical Content Staff

ACS News Center stories are provided as a source of cancer-related news and are not intended to be used as press releases.