Topical steroid creams, used to treat common skin conditions like eczema, could help the body fight off cancer, new research has suggested.
Experts from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute say the creams can not only shrink the size of melanoma tumours—the deadliest type of skin cancer—but could be effective against other cancers too.
The team credit the effect to steroids’ ability to block a protein called Garp, which helps cancer cells ‘hide’ from the immune system—the body’s first line of defense against disease—allowing them to grow.
By blocking Garp, the immune system is better able to detect and fight cancer cells, shrinking the tumour.
The team from the University of Manchester, headed by Dr Charles Earnshaw, a leading dermatologist, were examining whether commonly used cream treatments could change the inflammation inside melanoma tumours.
‘Surprisingly, the only cream treatment that did result in tumour shrinkage were topical steroids,’ he said.
‘This was unexpected, but the breakthrough came when we saw that the steroids were acting to actually stimulate an immune response against the cancer, despite the fact that steroids are inherently immunosuppressive or dampen the immune system.
‘Further investigation led us to find that the steroids were reducing the level of a protein called Garp on the tumour cells. And then this in turn allowed the reactivation of the immune response, basically to kill the cancer.’
Steroids, one of the most commonly prescribed drugs to cancer patients, can shrink melanoma tumours, cancer experts have found
Publishing their findings in the journal Cancer Discovery, the researchers also looked at data sets from over 2,000 people alongside 40 tumour samples from patients with melanoma.
They found that patients whose tumours show stronger signs of being able to respond to steroids live longer, while those with high levels of Garp have a poorer survival rate overall.
Dr Earnshaw said: ‘This study uncovers a few things.
‘It shows that actually, there might be circumstances where steroids can trigger immune responses to cancer, and it suggests that this protein called Garp might be a really nice therapeutic target going forward to inhibit not only in melanoma, but potentially in other cancers as well.’
He added that there could be ‘very specific circumstances’ when topical steroids, or otherwise locally administered injected steroids, might be clinically useful.
Alternative treatments that work on Garp are currently being developed and clinical trials are planned, with the hopes of finding a potential treatment plan for patients who do not respond to other drugs like chemotherapy.
Santiago Zelenay, senior group leader at the CRUCK Manchester Institute, said: ‘This research is particularly exciting because it shows that steroids, one of the most commonly administered drugs to cancer patients, and usually thought to weaken the immune system, may, in certain cases, actually help the patient’s own immune system fight back.’
Prof Samra Turamlic, director of CRUK Manchester Institute, welcomed the findings, saying: This work is the kind of science we strive for at CRUCK Manchester Institute – uncovering the deep biology of cancer to help bring us get closer to a world where people live longer – better lives, free from the fear of cancer.’
