Studies in a mouse model of melanoma and on cell lines derived from mouse and human melanomas demonstrated that A-SMase levels of expression actually determine the malignant phenotype of melanoma cells in terms of pigmentation, tumour progression, invasiveness and metastatic ability.
Similarly, when irradiated melanomas were pretreated with a single, peritumoral injection of recombinant ASM (rhASM), the tumors were up to threefold smaller.
Consistent with this, overexpression of ASM in subcutaneous B16-F10 mouse melanomas, in combination with irradiation, resulted in tumors that were up to 12-fold smaller than irradiated control melanomas.