Melanoma Methods of Resistance

November 25, 2010 | Two studies published in Nature reveal why promising melanoma drug PLX4032 fails in some patients and how tumors' resistance to the drug may be overcome. Levi Garraway at Dana-Farber Cancer and colleagues have found that excessive production of a cancer-promoting protein called COT can shield cultured cells from PLX4032. Roger Lo's group at UCLA found that tumor cells could reactivate the B-RAF signalling pathway damped down by the drug, or stimulate tumour-cell growth mediated by a different protein. Nature News