Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 12, Issue 1, 2012

This first issue of Vol. 12 of “Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry” comes at a time of increasing change within both the pharmaceutical industry and medicinal chemistry. Currently 22 of the top 25 selling drugs are reported to be generic, lacking the composition of matter patent protection that characterizes the early phase of the life cycle for any successful new product launch in the area of small-molecule therapeutics. Th Read More

The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is rapidly increasing across the world. Treatment of metastatic melanoma is very difficult. One of the most promising strategies is based on the fact that melanoma cells are immunogenic and stimulate the endogenous production of anti-tumor T cells. This special issue of Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, “The Medicinal Chemistry of Melanoma” covers different novel therapeutic m Read More

CEACAM1 adhesion molecule is broadly expressed, participates in pivotal cellular and immunological processes and is involved in cancer. Originally identified as a tumor suppressor, it is now known that in several cancers, including malignant melanoma, CEACAM1 expression correlates with tumor progression and poor survival. Here we review the findings connecting CEACAM1 to malignant melanoma, encompassing in-vitro, Read More

Immunogenicity of tumour cells, immunomodulation and direct targeting of signalling pathways are promising avenues and matter of dated and innovative research in melanoma. Unfortunately, tumour cells are considered to be antigenic, but not immunogenic, either due to presentation of weakly recognized antigens or to the inability of the immune system to recognize them. However, spontaneous complete remission can Read More

Metastatic melanoma has a very poor prognosis and systemic therapies - both cytotoxic and biological - have not improved outcome in this disease so far. For this reason, novel therapeutic strategies are urgently required. Angiogenesis represents a relevant process to modulate in melanoma, as pro-angiogenic ligands and their receptors are overexpressed and have been found to correlate with disease progression and prognosis. Read More

The sensitivity of cancer cells to apoptosis induced by anticancer drugs in vitro may be a predictor of their sensitivity to these drugs in vivo. In this review I summarize recent data describing anticancer drug-induced apoptosis in human melanoma cells. Proteasome inhibitors alone, or in combination with other drugs, efficiently induce apoptosis in melanoma cells. It has been shown that apoptosis induced by proteasome i Read More

In-transit metastases occur in approximately 3% of melanoma patients, can be very symptomatic and survival in this group may be prolonged. Regional chemotherapy with melphalan delivered by isolated limb perfusion (ILP) or isolated limb infusion (ILI) are effective treatment options which are generally well tolerated. ILI is a less invasive and simpler alternative to ILP. ILI is tolerated better than ILP, though is probably less eff Read More

Ipilimumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody that binds to CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4), is the new hope in the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma. Anti-CTLA-4 antibodies enhance T cell responses in vitro and in vivo and activate proliferation of tumour-specific T cells. The blockade of CTLA-4 by ipilimumab leads to immune-mediated tumor regression. Ipilimumab has been studie Read More