Martin Weinstock Martin Weinstock, professor of dermatology at the Alpert Medical School, led the study in his capacity as a researcher at the VA Medical Center in Providence. The findings are published in the January issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the Journal of the American Medical Association/Archives journals.The treatment in question was a cream containing tretinoin, a retinoid used for acne and other conditions. Retinoids are a class of chemical compounds related to vitamin A. They play roles in vision, regulating cell growth, the growth of bone tissue, immune function, and the activation of genes involved in tumor suppression.
In 1998, the VA Topical Tretinoin Chemoprevention Trial was launched to see whether the cream could prevent cancer. More than 1,100 veterans took part in the study, mostly senior citizens either using the cream or a placebo. The trial was stopped six months early in May 2004 because there appeared to be a “significant” jump in deaths among the participants using tretinoin.
Weinstock and colleagues assessed the data and acknowledged the higher deaths, but could not connect tretinoin to the cause.
