In a new study, researchers found that a new drug combination is effective against metastatic uveal melanoma cells.
Uveal melanoma is a very aggressive type of melanoma that affects the eye.
The research was conducted by a team from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute and other institutes.
Uveal melanoma is a rare disorder and affects about 2,500 people in the United States each year.
However, nearly 50% of uveal melanoma patients will develop a metastatic disease that migrates to other parts of the body, primarily the liver.
The prognosis for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma is very poor, with the survival of only 17 to 20 months.
Previous research has shown that the MAPK protein signaling pathway is commonly deregulated in melanoma of the skin and uveal melanoma.
Drugs that target a protein called MEK, which is involved in the MAPK signaling pathway, can strongly improve the outcomes of patients with melanoma of the skin.
But many patients with uveal melanoma quickly develop resistance to these drug MEK inhibitors.
In the new study, the team wanted to see how this resistance develops and identify additional drugs that could be used in combination with MEK inhibitors to treat uveal melanoma.
In their lab experiments, they found MEK inhibitors blocked uveal melanoma cell growth.
However, this inhibition was short-lived and eventually, the cell lines developed resistance and continued to grow.
The team then performed a drug search of 289 compounds to identify those that could limit escape from MEK inhibition.
They found a type of drug called HDAC inhibitors that can help treat different types of cancer.
Combination of the two types of drugs was more effective at reducing uveal melanoma tumor growth in mice than either drug alone.
The team hopes that the new findings will lead to clinical studies in uveal melanoma patients in the near future.
The lead author of the study is Keiran Smalley, Ph.D., director of Moffitt’s Donald A. Adam Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center of Excellence.
The study is published in Clinical Cancer Research.
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