There’s something new under the sun at South Dakota State University: Researchers are working with molecules that protect against skin cancer and may even help undo the sun’s damage.

Distinguished professor Chandradhar Dwivedi, head of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Department in the College of Pharmacy at SDSU, said the work could be commercialized within 10 years.

“We are looking at a number of molecules that can be used with sunscreen or without sunscreen. They are not simply blocking the radiation, but they are reversing the damage caused by radiation,” Dwivedi said.

Exposure to ultraviolet light, especially in summertime, can contribute to skin cancer. Farmers, construction workers and others who spend long hours exposed to sunlight are among those most at risk.

People are becoming more aware of the risk of skin cancer thanks to educational efforts. More people wear sunscreens, though Dwivedi cautioned that sunscreens must be re-applied at regular intervals to provide optimum protection.

“We have been saying for a long time that prevention is the best medicine,” Dwivedi said. “We have to make the effort to prevent the disease before we treat it.”

Nevertheless, some new strategies are emerging that could make sunscreens and lotions even more effective against skin cancer.

Here’s a look at SDSU’s research of skin product components:

— Alpha-santalol is the name of a molecule that provides one of the main components of oil of sandalwood. Dwivedi has made alpha-santalol a focus of his research for nearly 15 years.

“This product has been very effective in preventing skin cancer caused by chemicals and by UV radiation,” Dwivedi said.

“We have done our work in animal models,” according to the researcher. “Now it’s ready to go for testing in humans.”

“Best of all, this molecule has a very nice fragrance, so people will not mind using it.

“It smells nice, and at the same time, it prevents chemically-caused or UV-induced skin cancer.”

— Another molecule called sarcophine-diol, made from a product called sarcophine coming from coral found in the Red Sea, has been a focus of SDSU research over the past five years.

Sarcophine-diol is effective in micrograms, as compared to milligrams, for other chemo-preventive products.

In other words it is effective in a concentration of about one-thousandth of what the scientific literature suggests for other chemo-preventive agents used against chemically and UV-induced skin cancer.

SDSU testing has examined two models thus far and is expanding to other models.

Dwivedi said collaboration with SDSU assistant professor Hesham Fahmy is moving that work forward.

Fahmy, a chemist, already had one patent for his work with sarcophine-diol at the University of Mississippi when he joined SDSU’s College of Pharmacy in 2004.

Dwivedi, Fahmy and SDSU are now pursuing licensing of the patent based on their collaborative research of sarcophine-diol.

Dwivedi said SDSU research will also look at combining products that protect against skin cancer to provide additive/synergistic effects on the protective properties of these molecules.

SDSU is also trying to assess whether the products’ potential benefits go beyond protection.

“We hope to include it in sun screen or lotion. Apply it once, and you are set for the day. We are hopeful that it will not only prevent skin cancer but may actually treat skin cancer,” Dwivedi said.

Fahmy explained that skin cancer occurs in two stages: initiation, when normal skin cells turn to precancerous skin cells and remain so for a number of years; and then promotion, a long stage of 10 to 20 years in which precancerous cells can become cancerous.

There is a chance to intervene in that second stage so that promotion doesn’t take place and the individual doesn’t contract skin cancer.

He added that cancer is able to proceed by outwitting the body’s mechanism that orders programmed cell death, called apoptosis, for cells that have been genetically damaged.

“After initiation, you have those precancerous cells. But when you use these compounds, they encourage these precancerous cells to commit suicide and regenerate rather than turn cancerous,” Fahmy said.

“So in this sense they can undo some of the damage. These compounds reinforce the programmed cell death process.”

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU graduates students from eight different colleges representing more than 200 majors, minors and options. The institution also offers 20 master’s degree programs and 11 Ph.D programs.

A photo is available at this link:
http://agbiocom.sdstate.edu/photos/SkinCancerResearch7787.jpg

cutline: SDSU pharmacy distinguished professor Chandradhar Dwivedi, left, and assistant professor Hesham Fahmy are carrying out research at SDSU on molecules that offer protection against skin cancer.

Source: South Dakota State University