Drug appears to eliminate some Kaposi’s

Kaposi’s sarcoma, a type of skin cancer often diagnosed in kidney transplant patients, can be eliminated using the same drug that helps stop transplanted kidneys from being rejected, researchers have announced.

The anti-rejection drug sirolimus appears to make the skin cancer disappear, at least among kidney transplant recipients who develop the cancer after their transplant, according to a study of 15 patients.

Kaposi’s, which causes tumors in tissues below the skin surface, is usually rare. But when the immune system is throttled down, due to drugs that prevent organ rejection, or a disease such as HIV, it is far more common.

In the new study, patients who developed Kaposi’s were taken off cyclosporine, the standard drug for preventing organ rejection, and given sirolimus, which does the same thing.

After one month, the Kaposi’s lesions had begun to disappear in 12 of the 15 volunteers. After three months, they had all disappeared.

The research team said sirolimus continued to prevent organ rejection as well.

“This dual role of the drug may prove important in other situations in which transplant recipients are at high risk for tumor recurrence or primary cancer,” the team said.

The study was published in the March 31 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.