Cancer researchers from the University of Arizona clinched a $19.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study a prevention-based molecular cure for skin cancer, according to the Arizona Daily Star. Working with the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix and other research teams nationwide, they hope to develop a drug that could prevent or reverse cancerous skin damage.

The grant, which extends through 2009, will support the Center's continued efforts to develop a drug with agents able to neutralize pre-cancerous mutations that cause melanoma and other skin cancers. It is the largest grant the Arizona Cancer Center has received from NCI in nearly 25 years.

In preliminary studies, researchers working at the center, which is part of the University of Arizona's Health Sciences Center, found perrilyl alcohol, a molecule common in citrus, to be an effective antidote to skin cancer.

Dr. David Alberts, director of cancer prevention and control for the Arizona Cancer Center, told the Star that if that compound is found to be effective in eradicating the cancerous agents as a skin application, it could then be used as a preventive topical measure or be mixed into sunscreens in order to reverse cancer-causing sun damage.

"The best cure is prevention. If you can prevent it, you never have to treat it," he told the Star. Alberts added that the drug, should it prove effective, would represent a huge financial windfall for UA, which would own the pharmaceutical patent.

The size of the grant demonstrates the optimism that NCI holds for the potential of the center's cure, an optimism that is echoed by Jeffrey Trent, president and scientific director of TGen.

"If you stay in the dugout, you'll never have the opportunity to hit a home run. We're going to be out there, and we hope to hit a home run," Trent told the Star.

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For more information:

"UA awarded $19.5M for cancer study," Arizona Daily Star, 08/24/2004