Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer, and the overall median survival in patients with metastatic melanoma is only 6–9 months. Although molecular targeted therapies have recently been developed and have improved the overall survival, melanoma patients may show no response and acquisition of resistance to these drugs. Thus, other molecular approaches are essential for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. In the present study, we investigated the effect of cotreatment with dacarbazine and statins on tumor growth, metastasis, and survival rate in mice with metastatic melanomas. We found that cotreatment with dacarbazine and statins significantly inhibited tumor growth and metastasis via suppression of the RhoA/RhoC/LIM domain kinase/serum response factor/c‐Fos pathway and enhanced p53, p21, p27, cleaved caspase‐3, and cleaved poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase 1 expression in vivo. Moreover, the cotreatment significantly improved the survival rate in metastasis‐bearing mice. Importantly, treatment with dacarbazine plus 100 mg/kg simvastatin or fluvastatin prevented metastasis‐associated death in 4/20 mice that received dacarbazine + simvastatin and in 8/20 mice that received dacarbazine + fluvastatin (survival rates, 20% and 40%, respectively). These results suggested that cotreatment with dacarbazine and statins may thus serve as a new therapeutic approach to control tumor growth and metastasis in melanoma patients.

Futamatayama volcano is a Quaternary stratovolcano located 6 km north of the Nasu volcano group in southern Fukushima Prefecture, NE Japan. We investigated the eruption history and magmatic processes of the volcano using geological, petrological, and geochronological [thermoluminescence (TL) dating] analyses. The eruptive activity of the volcano can be divided into two stages. The lava flow stage (Stage 1: 3.56 km 3 DRE) included at least seven lava flows, and the lava dome stage (Stage 2: 0.09 km 3 DRE) involved the formation of two lava domes and a small pyroclastic flow. We obtained TL ages of 163±7 ka, 93±3 ka, and 79±3 ka from the lava flows (Stage 1) and 56±4 ka from a lava dome (Stage 2), which indicate that the volcano formed over a period of >100 ky. The eruption products of Futamatayama volcano commonly consists of felsic rocks (SiO 2 = 56.2-68.4 wt.%) that contain mafic enclaves (SiO 2 = 50.6-59.3 wt.%), indicating magma mixing. On an FeO*/MgO-SiO 2 (whole-rock) diagram, data from Stage 1 and Stage 2 form subparallel linear trends (Stage 1: FeO*/MgO = 1.9; Stage 2: FeO*/MgO = 2.2; at SiO 2 = 64.1 wt.%). These trends suggest that the magmatic system changed between Stage 1 and Stage 2, with different end-member magmas in each stage. Compositional variations between the mafic end-member magmas can be explained by olivine and pyroxene fractionation from a common basaltic magma. Variations in Rb/Ba ratios between the mafic and felsic end-members suggest that the latter could not have been derived from the former by simple fractional crystallization. The felsic end-member magmas of Stage 1 and Stage 2 were produced by different degrees of partial melting of crustal materials in response to heating by mafic end-member magmas.

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