Possibility of vaccine to prevent skin cancer

Date:
January 12, 2022
Source:
Oregon State University
Summary:
Research suggests that a vaccine stimulating production of a
protein critical to the skin's antioxidant network could help
people bolster their defenses against skin cancer.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Research by the Oregon State University College of Pharmacy suggests that
a vaccine stimulating production of a protein critical to the skin's antioxidant network could help people bolster their defenses against
skin cancer.


========================================================================== Ultraviolet radiation from the sun leads to oxidative stress, which
increases the risk of skin cancers such as melanoma, explains Arup Indra, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at OSU and the study's leader.

A messenger RNA vaccine, like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for
COVID-19, that promoted production of the protein, TR1, in skin cells
could mitigate the risk of UV-induced cancers and other skin problems,
he said.

Findings of the research, in which Arup and collaborators used a mouse
model to probe TR1's role in skin cells' health and stability, were
published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Melanoma, the most
lethal type of skin cancer, is a form in which malignant cells form in
skin cells known as melanocytes; melanocytes produce the pigment melanin,
which determines skin color.

Most cases of skin cancer, the CDC says, are linked to UV radiation
exposure.

People become tan from exposure to the sun or tanning beds because
producing melanin is the body's way of trying to protect the skin from
burning.



========================================================================== "Despite efforts to improve public awareness about the warning signs
of melanoma and the dangers of excess exposure to UV radiation, the
incidence of melanoma continues to rise," Indra said. "For more than
40 years researchers have looked at dietary antioxidants as a possible
source of inexpensive, low- risk agents for cancer prevention but they
have not always performed well in clinical trials and in some cases
have actually been harmful -- hence the need to try to intervene with
new chemoprevention agents such as an mRNA vaccine." TR1 is short
for thioredoxin reductase 1. Reductase refers to an enzyme promoting a reduction reaction in which a chemical species gains electrons, usually as
part of a "redox" reaction in which another species undergoes oxidation,
or the loss of electrons.

TR1 is a key component of melanocytes' antioxidant system. Antioxidants
offer protection from reactive oxygen species, or ROS, that are on the
hunt for electrons from molecules in cells and can damage DNA.

Melanocytes are under ROS siege not only from the sun but also because
the process of making pigment, melanogenesis, causes ROS to be produced
too. By catalyzing the transfer of electrons, antioxidants work like an
off switch for what would otherwise be a chain reaction affecting multiple molecules in melanocytes and other cells, thereby preventing oxidation.

Messenger RNA vaccines work by instructing cells to make a particular
protein.

In the case of the coronavirus vaccines, it's a harmless piece of the
virus' spike protein, which triggers an immune response; for the proposed melanoma vaccine, it would be TR1.



========================================================================== "Following uptake of the mRNA into the cell and the cell's machinery
going to work, the cell should be at a high antioxidant level and able
to take care of oxidative stress and DNA damage arising from ultraviolet radiation," Indra said. "People at increased risk of skin cancer, such as
those who work outside in sunny climates, could ideally be vaccinated
once a year." A vaccine for only TR1, with no other antioxidants,
might be sufficient, he added, because researchers observed increased
oxidative stress and DNA damage without TR1 despite the presence of
other antioxidant proteins. However, it's possible that some other
antioxidants such as glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase
could be important as well, Indra said.

"Everything needs to be tested and validated in preclinical models,"
he said.

"We need to generate an mRNA vaccine, have it delivered locally or systematically and then monitor how it boosts the body's defenses. Clearly we're at the tip of the iceberg but the possibilities are exciting
for preventing different types of disease progression including cancer
by modulating the bodies' antioxidant system." OSU scientists Gitali Ganguli-Indra, Evan Carpenter, Mark Wyant, Aaryan Indra and Gary Merrill
were also involved with the study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the College of Pharmacy.

Researchers from Oregon Health & Science University, the University of
Utah and Japan's Fujita Health University took part as well.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Oregon_State_University. Original
written by Steve Lundeberg. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Evan L. Carpenter, Mark B. Wyant, Aaryan Indra, Shosuke Ito,
Kazumasa
Wakamatsu, Gary F. Merrill, Philip J. Moos, Pamela B. Cassidy,
Sancy A.

Leachman, Gitali Ganguli-Indra, Arup K. Indra. Thioredoxin Reductase
1 Modulates Pigmentation and Photobiology of Murine Melanocytes
in vivo.

Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/
j.jid.2021.11.030 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220112093811.htm
--- up 5 weeks, 4 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)