Drugs to block skin cancer developed

Scientists have developed a potent group of potential drug candidates to treat skin cancer, according to a study in the Journal of Medicinal  Chemistry, April 23. The study - funded by Cancer Research UK, the  Institute of Cancer Research and the Wellcome Trust -reveals a new class  of potential drug candidates that are designed to treat malignant  melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

This team previously showed that a protein called BRAF, which is mutated  in 50%-70% of human melanomas, is responsible for driving the growth of  these cells. The chemicals they have developed, called  pyridoimidazolones, block the activity of the mutated BRAF protein and  so inhibit the growth of melanoma cells. Highly-targeted drugs like this  new group act selectively on melanoma cells with mutated BRAF.

Treatments like these may lead to fewer side effects and should be more  effective at stopping and killing cancer. Lead author Caroline Springer,  from the ICR, said: "in our studies on cells from human cancer samples,  we have developed some exciting potential treatments that could soon be  assessed in patients in the clinic." Prof Springer added: "They're so  effective because they deliver a knock-out blow to a specific mutant  protein that we know goes wrong in more than 50% of skin cancers."