Melanoma, drug resistance mechanisms identified

(ANSA) - ROME, 19 JAN - A study published in Biomedicines that identified and described new mechanisms that explain, at least in part, the serious problem of drug resistance in melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, whose incidence rate is rapidly increasing.

The research is by a group of researchers from the Higher Institute of Health, in collaboration with colleagues from the IDI-IRCCS and the CampusBiomedico of Rome and has been published on the ISS website.

    "Despite the recent progress of the new therapeutic options have significantly changed the clinical outcome - says Francesco Facchiano who coordinated the study - skin melanomas resistant to inhibitors of the BRAF protein (BRAFi), a kinase that has changed in about 50%, are always very frequent. of the total number of melanoma cases, and several evidences suggest that changes in the tumor microenvironment play a fundamental role in acquired resistance mechanisms ".

   Starting from data obtained in vitro with cancer cells and confirmed on biological samples from patients, they focused their attention on the set of proteins secreted (secretome) by melanoma cells resistant to alvemurafenib, an anticancer drug known to inhibit the BRAF protein. (HANDLE).