The incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma is rising faster than any other cancer in the US. 1 in 74 Americans will develop melanoma, more than 45,000 cases will be diagnosed, and more than 7,500 Americans will die from melanoma this year. Effective prevention of melanoma will not only save lives, but will also decrease the estimated one billion dollars spent annually treating melanoma in the US.

There is currently no recognized chemoprevention for melanoma. Two large, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials, the VA-HIT Study utilizing gemfibrozil, and the AFCAPS Study utilizing lovastatin, have each reported an association of lipid-lowering medication therapy with statistically significant lower melanoma incidence rates. Lovastatin inhibits melanoma cell growth in tissue culture, and mice Jed lovastatin develop lower lung metastases following tail vein injection with mouse B16 melanoma cells. More recently low concentrations of atorvastatin have been reported to specifically induce apoptosis and inhibit migration of human A375 melanoma cells but not cultured melanocytes. To investigate the unconventional hypothesis that lipid-lowering medications might prevent melanoma, a case-control study will be conducted utilizing Veterans Administration (VA) databases to answer the following question: Do persons who have developed cutaneous malignant melanoma have a history of less lipid-lowering medication exposure than persons who are spared the disease? The answer to this question will help determine whether more expensive and labor intensive randomized prospective clinical trials of potentially teratogenic lipid-lowering medications should be initiated in persons at high risk of developing melanoma.

Robert Dellavalle, MD, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and a staff dermatologist at the Denver VA medical center He is committed to a career in academic dermatology and public health. His current career goals are completing a Masters of Science in Public Health and becoming an independent researcher in skin cancer prevention and control.

K07CA092550

2002-06-01

2008-09-30