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Determinants of resistance and response to melanoma therapy

Nature Cancer volume 5, pages 964–982 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Metastatic melanoma is among the most enigmatic advanced cancers to clinically manage despite immense progress in the way of available therapeutic options and historic decreases in the melanoma mortality rate. Most patients with metastatic melanoma treated with modern targeted therapies (for example, BRAFV600E/K inhibitors) and/or immune checkpoint blockade (for example, anti-programmed death 1 therapy) will progress, owing to profound tumor cell plasticity fueled by genetic and nongenetic mechanisms and dichotomous host microenvironmental influences. Here we discuss the determinants of tumor heterogeneity, mechanisms of therapy resistance and effective therapy regimens that hold curative promise.

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Fig. 1: Factors correlated with resistance in melanoma.
Fig. 2: Therapeutic strategies to treat melanoma in early 2024.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from the Koo/Adler Fund for Cancer Research, US National Institutes of Health award K01 CA245124-01, and a Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator Award.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Bailey M. Robertson, Mitchell E. Fane, Ashani T. Weeraratna & Vito W. Rebecca

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Robertson, B.M., Fane, M.E., Weeraratna, A.T. et al. Determinants of resistance and response to melanoma therapy. Nat Cancer 5, 964–982 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-024-00794-1

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