BRAF inhibitor
Knocking Out Melanoma: Does This Triple Combo Have What It Takes?
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
It would be great if we could knock out cancer with a single punch. But the more we learn about cancer’s molecular complexities and the immune system’s response to tumors, the more it appears that we may need a precise combination of blows to defeat a patient’s cancer permanently, with no need for a later rematch. One cancer that provides us with a ringside seat on the powerful potential—and tough challenges—of targeted combination therapy is melanoma, especially the approximately 50% of advanced tumors with a specific “driver” mutation in the BRAF gene [1].
Drugs that target cells carrying BRAF mutations initially provided great hope for melanoma, with many reports of dramatic shrinkage of tumors in patients with advanced disease. But almost invariably, the disease recurred and was no longer responsive to those same drugs. A few years ago, researchers thought they’d come up with a solid combination to fight BRAF-mutant melanoma: a one-two punch that paired a BRAF-inhibiting drug with an agent that sensitized the immune system [2]. However, when that combo was tested in humans, the clinical trial had to be stopped early because of serious liver toxicity [3]. Now, in a mouse study published in Science Translational Medicine, NIH-funded researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) provide renewed hope for a safe, effective combination therapy for melanoma—with a strategy that adds a third drug to the mix [4].
