2 drugs are better than 1 at targeting tumors with B-RAF mutations

Friday, October 24, 2008 - 05:07 in Health & Medicine

In a proportion of human solid tumors, in particular melanomas (a form of skin cancer that is often resistant to chemotherapy), inappropriate activation of the MEK/ERK signaling pathway as a result of mutations in the B-RAF gene promotes tumor cell growth and survival. Although MEK inhibitors stop such tumor cells growing, they have a limited ability to kill the tumor cells. Thus, they have had limited success in promoting tumor regression in preclinical and clinical trials.

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