Investigating possible melanoma therapy

 Betulinic acid shows promise as a possible topical treatment for Equine malignant melanoma (EMM) according to recent laboratory research.

Melanomas are common in grey horses affecting up to 80% of them by the time they are 15 years old. Current treatment options are limited, and often not very successful.

Lisa A. Weber, Jessica Meißner of the Foundation University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover and colleagues investigated the effects of the betulinic acid (BA) on equine melanoma cells and equine dermal fibroblasts in cell culture. They also looked at its spread through isolated equine skin.

 They found that betulinic acid inhibited cell proliferation and reduced cell viability of both equine melanoma cells and fibroblasts.  However, the results did not show a selective effect on cancer cells compared with normal cells.

In isolated skin preparations, they found that BA could penetrate the stratum corneum and spread through the epidermal and dermal layers. 

The research team conclude that “the potent percutaneous permeation of BA in normal skin together with its anticancer effects on equine melanoma cells suggest that this substance may exert antitumoral effects in vivo.”

They suggest that their findings support the use of BA in further preclinical and clinical trials for topical EMM treatment.

For more details, see:

Betulinic acid shows anticancer activity against equine melanoma cells and permeates isolated equine skin in vitro.

Lisa A. Weber, Jessica Meißner, Julien Delarocque, Jutta Kalbitz, Karsten Feige, Manfred Kietzmann, Anne Michaelis, Reinhard Paschke, Julia Michael, Barbara Pratscher, and Jessika-M. V. Cavalleri

BMC Vet Res. (2020); 16: 44.

doi: 10.1186/s12917-020-2262-5