<i>In-Vitro</i> Effect of Steroids on Melanoma Cell Growth—A Prelude to Melanoma Treatment?

Abstract

Skin is not only a target organ for various sex steroids and hormones, but also an endocrine organ, which produces sex steroids. It has been suggested by Nikolakis et al. that impairment in skin steroidogenesis may result in inflammatory or autoimmune or other skin disorders. Melanoma is one such skin disease or disorder, which is believed to be caused by UV rays. But, epidemiological, clinical, in-vivo and in-vitro studies suggested the involvement of steroids in the regulation of melanoma growth. However, these studies either did not identify the steroid involved or did not relate to the protective function of the steroid in menstruating females in melanoma, as reported by the clinical studies. In this context, our studies with mouse and human melanoma cell lines showed that female sex steroid progesterone not only inhibited melanoma cell growth, but also affected adhesion and migration functions. In addition, our studies also showed that the effect of progesterone was not a toxic or spurious, but a specific effect on melanoma cells. Hence, our in-vitro studies along with previous other studies subscribed to the idea proposed earlier by Slominski et al. that modulation of local steroids could be a new therapeutic approach for treatment of skin disease or disorder, melanoma.