Scientists at The Wistar Institute are using revolutionary mouse ‘avatar’ models to discover effective combination treatments that may prolong responses and survival rates.

Source: PharmaPro.com, January 2015

Melanoma patients who receive treatment with targeted therapies experience an initial response that feels like a cure, but that early excitement is quickly dampened when patients relapse as their cancers find alternative pathways in our cells to grow and spread. With melanoma so good at escaping targeted treatments, there’s a dire need to halt these cancers in their tracks to prolong good responses and promote longer, healthier lives.

Now, by utilizing a revolutionary method that allows mice to serve as “avatars" for patients, scientists at The Wistar Institute have shown that a previously ineffective targeted drug for melanoma may actually be quite potent in halting the progression of disease in certain patients.

The findings were published by the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

Personalized medicine holds enormous promise for melanoma patients. Melanoma accounts for only about five percent of all skin cancer cases, yet the disease is responsible for about 75 percent of all skin cancer deaths. Since specific mutations are responsible for melanoma growth and proliferation, drugs that target mutated skin cancer cells are an attractive treatment option. For example, the gene BRAF is mutated in about half of all melanomas, leading to aberrant activation of an important growth pathway. Drugs that inhibit activated BRAF can extend the lives of patients.