combating the immunosuppressive function of MDSC

The latest reported use for the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra is to treat skin cancer or more specifically malignant melanoma! At Ukmedix News we have written about how Viagra is more than just an impotence drug before but we never imagined that it would have a positive impact on something so unrelated like skin cancer!

The discovery team which was led by Professor Dr. Viktor Umansky an immunologist at Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum and at University Medical Centre Mannheim looked at severe inflammation in mice brought on by malignant melanoma. They conducted a study by giving small amounts of Viagra added to the drinking water of some of the mice and noted that twice as many of them were still alive seven weeks after the start of the study when compared to those mice who were not given the Viagra laced drinking water

The researchers for this study said that the Viagra had completely neutralized the severe inflammation of the melanoma and also was combating the immunosuppressive function of MDSC in the laboratory mice.

Professor Viktor Umansky explained that he thought that the Viagra could end up improving the tumour immunity in people who had malignant melanoma in the same way as it appeared to be helping the mice.

At Ukmedix News we have previously written about how Cialis [very similar to Viagra] also has helped cancer patients suffering from head and neck tumours and this new research adds to the weight of evidence that shows that erectile dysfunction medications could become a standard part of all cancer treatments in the future.

If in future clinical trials it can be shown that either Viagra, Cialis or Levitra has a statistically significant impact on improving the health and well being of cancer patients it would be a big financial boost to their manufacturers namely Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Bayer. Much more work needs to be done however involving independent clinical trials before impotence drugs gain approval for cancer treatment.