UC Irvine Researchers Develop Promising Drugs to Halt Tumor, Skin Disease Blood Vessel Growth

Project scientist Linh Vuong, at left, and Anand Ganesan in their lab. Steve Zylius / UC Irvine

Irvine, Calif., July 14, 2025 — University of California, Irvine scientists have made a promising discovery that could lead to more effective treatments for aggressive cancers and chronic skin conditions. In a new study, researchers have identified a class of drug compounds that block the growth of blood vessels — a process known as angiogenesis — in both tumors and skin tissue.

The findings, published in the journal iScience, offer new hope for patients with diseases like melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, as well as common vascular skin disorders such as rosacea.

The discovery was led by Anand Ganesan, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist at UCI Health and professor of dermatology and biological chemistry at UC Irvine. According to Ganesan, the newly discovered compounds stop the formation of new blood vessels by targeting key proteins involved in the process — specifically the molecular switches known as CDC42 and RhoJ.

“Most skin tumors need to develop a blood supply to grow larger than a millimeter,” Ganesan said. “These compounds interrupt that process, effectively starving the tumors and slowing their growth.”

The research showed that blocking the RhoJ pathway, in particular, was effective at reducing blood-vessel formation in skin —and also significantly reduced blood supply to melanoma tumors, suppressing their growth. Importantly, this class of drugs did not affect healthy surrounding tissue, making them promising candidates for targeted therapies.

The implications could be far-reaching. While anti-angiogenesis drugs have long been used to treat cancers like colon and kidney cancer, they have had limited success against melanoma. By focusing on a different molecular target, this new approach could provide a more precise and effective way to block blood flow to these aggressive tumors.

Beyond cancer, the research team is also investigating whether these compounds can be used to treat skin diseases driven by abnormal blood vessel growth. These include rosacea, which affects millions of Americans, and inherited vascular disorders that currently have limited treatment options.

The project was made possible by several key sources of funding, including grants from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases, both part of the federal National Institutes of Health. Additional support came from the Italian Association for Cancer Research and UC Irvine’s new Clinical Innovation Incubator, a Department of Dermatology program that provides seed funding for early-stage medical innovations.

Read the full press release at UC Irvine News.