Melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer. Researchers have identified mutations in a gene called BRAF that causes normal cells in the body to undergo transformations, accumulate, grow into tumors, and spread. In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Vemurafenib (Zelboraf) for treating patients in late-stage melanoma with BRAF mutations. Although the tumors initially shrink, the effectiveness does not last long. The cancer cells would become drug-resistant, or "addicted to the drug", by making more of the BRAF protein.
However, researchers are able to use this "addiction" property to combat the cancer. They explain that intermittent dosing of vemurafenib works because cancers not only develop resistance but also dependency on the drug. Thus, when the drug is temporarily removed, the tumors start to shrink. More studies have been done in mice, in which researchers revealed that "mice continuously treated with vemurafenib all died of drug-resistant disease within about 100 days, while those treated with vemurafenib but with regular breaks all lived past 100 days." While no cure has been found, this intermittent dosing treatment could certainly prolong the lives of patients and give them hope. (The link to the article is: http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/13821/20130111/drug-resistant-melanoma-cells-become-addicted-cancer.htm)
Recently, I become very interested in cancer because some of my family members had suffered from cancers. I think this article is very interesting as it contradicts what we usually thought - diminishing cancer cells by not treating them with drugs. Although it's my first time to really learn about skin cancer, I believe, similar mechanism could also apply to other types of cancer. I really hope to learn more about them and hopefully do some research on them in the future!
After 2 weeks, I am finally be going to my internship this Wednesday (woohoo!) I can't wait to know what I will be doing:)
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