Artesunate Affects T Antigen Expression and Survival of Virus-Positive Merkel Cell Carcinoma.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and highly aggressive skin cancer with frequent viral etiology. Indeed, in about 80% of cases, there is an association with Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV); the expression of viral T antigens is crucial for growth of virus-positive tumor cells. Since artesunate-a drug used to treat malaria-has been reported to possess additional anti-tumor as well as anti-viral activity, we sought to evaluate pre-clinically the effect of artesunate on MCC.