Cell-specific drugs may be the future treatment for melanoma patients

Malignant melanoma is regarded as one the most dangerous and life-threatening skin cancers. More recently, melanoma mortality and morbidity rates have significantly increased during the past few decades on a global scale. It is especially more rampant in people of Celtic and Northern European origin that maintain fair skin types. If caught early with accurate diagnosing, a good prognosis can be made shortly followed by curable treatments. However, if the melanoma is left undiagnosed it can become insidiously progressive and metastasize throughout the rest of the body. After the point of metastasis, a localized skin excision where the melanoma originally manifested is no longer a viable treatment option. Aggressive oncological treatments such as radiation, chemotherapy, and invasive surgeries must quickly be pursued in order to preserve the life of the patient. The problem with some of these treatments is that they are non-cell specific regarding the actual cancer/tumor cells. When the body is treated with radiation or chemotherapy, there is a high potential of affecting non-carcinogenic cells in the body that don’t necessarily require treatment.

Recently, there has been cell-specific studies conducted involving competitive molecule inhibitors that directly suppress malignant melanoma tumors. Researchers are utilizing murine (mice) models to facilitate further insight into how these mechanisms work. Treatments with competitive molecule tumor suppressors have conclusively proven to halt melanoma tumor growth in mice while increasing the overall survival expectancy. Although these studies have demonstrated the efficacy of cell-specific pathways by interfering with tumor growth, there were also negatively observed side effects pertaining to the immune systems of the mice that were treated with the inhibitory drug. It’s important that we try to minimalize these side effects associated with tumor inhibitory drugs so that they may be implemented into future melanoma treatments without causing harm to the patient. Further research is necessary in order to fully comprehend the complex mechanisms behind the tumor suppressing inhibitory effects of these molecules. This will also allow scientists to simultaneously study how they affect the immune system negatively in order to make the corrections necessary to lessen these particular side effects. These cell-specific pathway studies give promising insight and demonstrate future capabilities that science may be able to offer patients who have been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma.