New skin cancer drugs show promise in lab tests

The study was carried out by researchers from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, and the Institute of Cancer Research London. It was funded by the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and the Division of Cancer Therapeutics at the Institute of Cancer Research.
This was a laboratory study investigating biological compounds that have the potential to treat malignant melanoma with specific mutation in the BRAF gene. This is said to account for up to half of people with melanoma. Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, which can spread rapidly to lymph nodes and other organs in the body if not treated as soon as possible. The study group say existing drug classes called BRAF and MEK inhibitors are initially effective when treating melanoma with the specific BRAF gene mutation. However, in most people, the cancer comes back as the drugs stop working. In others, the drugs do not work very well to start with.
The team wanted to find new ways of treating this specific drug-resistant form of melanoma and began their investigations in the laboratory. The discovery program found two promising compounds. They are called pan-RAF inhibitors, named CCT196969 and CCT241161 respectively.
They were found to inhibit melanoma development through a different biological mechanism from previous drugs. These chemicals could potentially be developed into drugs to treat some melanomas in the first instance, and used as a second line of attack for others that have become resistant to existing drugs.