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Single injection of rose bengal studied as melanoma treatment
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Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., are studying whether an injectable therapy known as PV-10 can shrink tumors and reduce the spread of cancer in patients with melanoma.
PV-10 (Provectus Pharmaceuticals) is developed from a 10% solution of rose bengal, a water-soluble dye commonly used to stain damaged cells in the eye, according to a press release. PV-10 can boost immune response in melanoma tumors and in the blood stream, according to early clinical trial results.
“We are currently in the middle of our first human clinical trial of PV-10 for advanced melanoma patients,” Amod A. Sarnaik, MD, assistant member of Moffitt’s cutaneous oncology program, said in the release. “We are also measuring the boost in anti-tumor immune cells of patients after injection.”
In an initial study published July in PLoS One, Toomey et all injected a single dose of PV-10 into mice with melanoma, which resulted in a significant reduction in skin cancer lesions and melanoma tumors that had spread to the lungs. The solution appeared to produce an anti-tumor response which could be safer than existing immunological agents, according to the release.
“Various injection therapies for melanoma have been examined over the past 40 years, but few have shown the promising results we are seeing with PV-10,” Shari Pilon-Thomas, PhD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, said in the release.