Widely used arthritis pill protects against skin cancer, study suggests

77-1978 and 1998-1999 in the Southwestern United States, the incidence of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma increased by 50 percent and 90 percent respectively in men, and by 22 percent and 110 percent respectively in women. Similar results have been observed in the northern United States.

In addition to the University of Rochester Medical Center, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the University of Michigan, the University of California, Irvine, the Washington University School of Medicine, and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center participated in the study.

The trial was a cooperative effort of the participating sites, the Division of Cancer Prevention at the National Cancer Institute and Pfizer, the maker of Celebrex (brand name for celecoxib). The study was jointly funded by Pfizer and the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of Rochester Medical Center.

Journal Reference:

C. A. Elmets, J. L. Viner, A. P. Pentland, W. Cantrell, H.-Y. Lin, H. Bailey, S. Kang, K. G. Linden, M. Heffernan, M. Duvic, E. Richmond, B. E. Elewski, A. Umar, W. Bell, G. B. Gordon. Chemoprevention of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer With Celecoxib: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2010; DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djq442

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