Towards new therapeutic approaches for malignant melanoma.

Abstract

Recent progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms of the initiation and progression of melanoma has created new opportunities for developing novel therapeutic modalities to manage this potentially lethal disease. Although at first glance, melanoma carcinogenesis appears to be a chaotic system, it is indeed, arguably, a deterministic multistep process involving sequential alterations of proto-oncogenes, tumour suppressors and miRNA genes. The scope of this article is to discuss the most recent and significant advances in melanoma molecular therapeutics. It is apparent that using single agents targeting solely individual melanoma pathways might be insufficient for long-term survival. However, the outstanding results on melanoma survival observed with novel selective inhibitors of B-RAF, such as PLX4032 give hope that melanoma can be cured. The fact that melanoma develops acquired resistance to PLX4032 emphasises the importance of simultaneously targeting several pathways. Because the most striking feature of melanoma is its unsurpassed ability to metastasise, it is important to implement newer systems for drug delivery adapted from research on stem cells and nanotechnology.

• Authors: Ivan Pacheco, Cristina Buzea, Victor Tron
• Journal: Expert reviews in molecular medicine (Expert Rev Mol Med) Vol. 13 Pg. e33 (Nov 01 2011) ISSN: 1462-3994 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 22044938 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review)

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents
• Indoles
• Protein Kinase Inhibitors
• Sulfonamides
• Vemurafenib
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf

Topics

• Animals
• Antineoplastic Agents (pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Drug Delivery Systems (methods)
• Drug Design
• Humans
• Indoles (pharmacology)
• Melanoma (drug therapy, pathology)
• Molecular Targeted Therapy
• Neoplasm Metastasis
• Protein Kinase Inhibitors (pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf (genetics, metabolism)
• Skin Neoplasms (drug therapy, pathology)
• Sulfonamides (pharmacology)
• Vemurafenib