Clinical Cancer Drugs - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2015

Clinical application of immune checkpoint blockades has dramatically changed the landscape of cancer immunotherapy, especially in the field of metastatic melanoma. For the first time in the history of treatment of melanoma, immunotherapies using immune checkpoint blockades such as anti-Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Antigen-4 (CTLA-4) and Program Death-1 (PD-1) antibodies have consistently shown regression of metastat Read More

Metastatic melanoma represents an aggressive tumor with overall poor prognosis. Targeted agents and immunotherapy have become the standard of care. Approximately 50-60 % of melanomas harbor BRAF mutations. Vemurafenib and dabrafenib are BRAF inhibitors, a group of drugs that will certainly expand, and obtained FDA approval after showing increased response rate (ORR), progression free survival (PFS) and overall s Read More

Uveal melanoma represents the most common primary intraocular tumor in adults. However, it remains a relatively infrequent malignancy where large clinical trials are difficult to accomplish. However, during the last couple of years we have witnessed an unprecedented expansion of our understanding of this disease. New genetic and molecular pathways were found to play key roles in the development of uveal melanom Read More

Mucosal melanomas are rare and associated with poor prognosis. Importantly, primary mucosal melanoma is clinically and biologically different from cutaneous melanoma. Complete surgical resection is the standard of care treatment for localized melanoma. However, given the usual anatomic locations where mucosal melanomas arise, including head and neck and anorectal mucosa, resection with optimal margins is Read More

Obatoclax (GX15-070) is a small molecule that binds to Bcl-2 family proteins (Bcl-2, Bcl- XL, and MCL-2) and has demonstrated efficacy in reinitiating programmed cell death. We previously demonstrated the synergistic effects of GX15-070 in combination with cytotoxic agents in rituximab sensitive and rituximab resistant models. Our aim was therefore to develop a pharmacodynamic model to characterize the de Read More

Purpose: We have previously reported that hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) prolongs the survival of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (aHCC). However, 5- fluorouracil (5-FU) has been found to exacerbate liver damage in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). We also previously reported that HAIC might cause occult hepatotoxicity and induces fibrosis without elevation of aminotransferases. Th Read More

Aside from its function in cellular homeostasis, autophagy enables cells to dispose of damaged cellular components and to recycle metabolites in response to cellular stress. Of particular interest is the context-dependent role of autophagy in cancer. Autophagy has been shown to inhibit tumor growth in the early stages of carcinogenesis, yet promotes the progression of previously established tumors. The characterization of pot Read More