Study Links Increased Risk of Melanoma to Use of Sildenafil
Source: Melanoma News Today, March 2016
Researchers have found that sildenafil — a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension — is linked to an increased risk of melanoma by promoting cGMP-cGKI signaling cascade. The results, “Sildenafil Potentiates a cGMP-Dependent Pathway to Promote Melanoma Growth,” were published in the journal Cell Reports.
Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive cancers and the underlying cause for most deaths due to skin cancer. Melanoma cells were previously shown to hyperactivate the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, and its malignant effects were associated with an increased level of cyclic guanosine-3?, 5?-monophosphate (cGMP) as a consequence of PDE5A gene downregulation (the gene encoding for cGMP-degrading phosphodiesterase 5 [PDE5] ).