Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0025202 (melanoma)
 69,561 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Most events promoting early melanoma development are yet to be identified, but deregulation of the B-Raf and Akt3 signaling cascades is an important regulator of this process. Approximately 90% of normal moles and approximately 60% of early invasive cutaneous melanomas contain a T1799A B-Raf mutation ((V600E)B-Raf), leading to 10 times higher enzyme activity and constitutive activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Furthermore, approximately 70% of melanomas have elevated Akt3 signaling due to increased gene copy number and PTEN loss. Therefore, targeting (V600E)B-Raf and Akt3 signaling is necessary to prevent or treat cutaneous melanocytic lesions. Agents specifically targeting these proteins are needed, having fewer side effects than those inhibiting both normal and mutant B-Raf protein or targeting all three Akt isoforms. In this study, a unique nanoliposomal-ultrasound-mediated approach has been developed for delivering small interfering RNA (siRNA) specifically targeting (V600E)B-Raf and Akt3 into melanocytic tumors present in skin to retard melanoma development. Novel cationic nanoliposomes stably encapsulate siRNA targeting (V600E)B-Raf or Akt3, providing protection from degradation and facilitating entry into melanoma cells to decrease expression of these proteins. Low-frequency ultrasound using a lightweight four-cymbal transducer array enables penetration of nanoliposomal-siRNA complex throughout the epidermal and dermal layers of laboratory-generated or animal skin. Nanoliposomal-mediated siRNA targeting of (V600E)B-Raf and Akt3 led to a cooperatively acting approximately 65% decrease in early or invasive cutaneous melanoma compared with inhibition of each singly with negligible associated systemic toxicity. Thus, cationic nanoliposomes loaded with siRNA targeting (V600E)B-Raf and Akt3 provide an effective approach for targeted inhibition of early or invasive cutaneous melanomas.
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PMID:Targeting V600EB-Raf and Akt3 using nanoliposomal-small interfering RNA inhibits cutaneous melanocytic lesion development. 1879 53

Metastatic cutaneous melanoma is highly resistant to cytotoxic drugs, and this contributes to poor prognosis. In vivo studies on the chemosensitivity of metastatic melanoma are rare and hampered by poor response rates to systemic chemotherapeutics. Patients who undergo isolated limb infusion (ILI) with cytotoxic drugs show high response rates and are, therefore, a good cohort for studying chemosensitivity in vivo. We used tumors from patients who underwent ILI to study the role of melanoma tumor-suppressor genes and oncogenes on melanoma chemosensitivity. Prospectively acquired tumors from 30 patients who subsequently underwent ILI with melphalan and actinomycin-D for metastatic melanoma were investigated for mRNA expression levels of p14(ARF), p16(INK4a), and MITFm. The mutation status of B-RAF, N-RAS, and PTEN were also determined. A high percentage of tumors had activating mutations in either B-RAF (15/30) or N-RAS (10/30) and only two tumors carried altered PTEN. High expression of p16(INK4a) and absence of an activating B-RAF mutation independently predicted response to treatment. Further, inducible expression of p16(INK4a) sensitized a melanoma cell line to death induced by melphalan or actinomycin-D. This study shows that high expression of p16(INK4a) or the absence of activated B-RAF correlates with in vivo response of melanoma to cytotoxic drugs.
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PMID:p16INK4a expression and absence of activated B-RAF are independent predictors of chemosensitivity in melanoma tumors. 1895 32

Human primary melanoma cells (T1) were found to be more susceptible to lysis by a Melan-A/MART-1-specific CTL clone (LT12) than their metastatic derivative (G1). We show that this differential susceptibility does not involve antigen presentation by target cells, synapse formation between the metastatic target and CTL clone, or subsequent granzyme B (GrB) polarization. Although PI-9, an inhibitor of GrB, was found to be overexpressed in metastatic G1 cells, knockdown of the PI-9 gene did not result in the attenuation of G1 resistance to CTL-induced killing. Interestingly, we show that whereas T1 cells express high levels of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), a dramatically reduced expression was noted on G1 cells. We also showed that sorted ICAM-1+ G1 cells were highly sensitive to CTL-induced lysis compared with ICAM-1- G1 cells. Furthermore, incubation of metastatic G1 cells with IFN-gamma resulted in the induction of ICAM-1 and the potentiation of their susceptibility to lysis by LT12. More importantly, we found that the level of ICAM-1 expression by melanoma cells correlated with decreased PTEN activity. ICAM-1 knockdown in T1 cells resulted in increased phosphorylation of PTEN and the subsequent activation of AKT. We have additionally shown that inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-triphosphate kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway by the specific inhibitor wortmannin induced a significant potentiation of susceptibility of G1 and ICAM-1 small interfering RNA-treated T1 cells to CTL-induced lysis. The present study shows that a shift in ICAM-1 expression, which was associated with an activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway, can be used by metastatic melanoma cells to escape CTL-mediated killing.
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PMID:ICAM-1 has a critical role in the regulation of metastatic melanoma tumor susceptibility to CTL lysis by interfering with PI3K/AKT pathway. 1904 66

The AKT/PKB pathway plays a central role in tumor development and progression and is often up-regulated in different tumor types, including melanomas. We have recently reported on the in silico approach to identify putative inhibitors for AKT/PKB. Of the reported hits, we selected BI-69A11, a compound which was shown to inhibit AKT activity in in vitro kinase assays. Analysis of BI-69A11 was performed in melanoma cells, a tumor type that commonly exhibits up-regulation of AKT. Treatment of the UACC903 human melanoma cells, harboring the PTEN mutation, with BI-69A11 caused efficient inhibition of AKT S473 phosphorylation with concomitant inhibition of AKT phosphorylation of PRAS40. Treatment of melanoma cells with BI-69A11 also reduced AKT protein expression, which coincided with inhibition of AKT association with HSP-90. BI-69A11 treatment not only caused cell death of melanoma, but also prostate tumor cell lines. Notably, the effect of BI-69A11 on cell death was more pronounced in cells that express an active form of AKT. Significantly, intra-peritoneal injection of BI-69A11 caused effective regression of melanoma tumor xenografts, which coincided with elevated levels of cell death. These findings identify BI-69A11 as a potent inhibitor of AKT that is capable of eliciting effective regression of xenograft melanoma tumors.
Pigment Cell Melanoma Res 2009 Apr
PMID:BI-69A11-mediated inhibition of AKT leads to effective regression of xenograft melanoma. 1917 24

Decitabine, an epigenetic modifier that reactivates genes otherwise suppressed by DNA promoter methylation, is effective for some, but not all cancer patients, especially those with solid tumors. It is commonly recognized that to overcome resistance and improve outcome, treatment should be guided by tumor biology, which includes genotype, epigenotype, and gene expression profile. We therefore took an integrative approach to better understand melanoma cell response to clinically relevant dose of decitabine and identify complementary targets for combined therapy. We employed eight different melanoma cell strains, determined their growth, apoptotic and DNA damage responses to increasing doses of decitabine, and chose a low, clinically relevant drug dose to perform whole-genome differential gene expression, bioinformatic analysis, and protein validation studies. The data ruled out the DNA damage response, demonstrated the involvement of p21(Cip1) in a p53-independent manner, identified the TGFbeta pathway genes CLU and TGFBI as markers of sensitivity to decitabine and revealed an effect on histone modification as part of decitabine-induced gene expression. Mutation analysis and knockdown by siRNA implicated activated beta-catenin/MITF, but not BRAF, NRAS or PTEN mutations as a source for resistance. The importance of protein stability predicted from the results was validated by the synergistic effect of Bortezomib, a proteasome inhibitor, in enhancing the growth arrest of decitabine in otherwise resistant melanoma cells. Our integrative analysis show that improved therapy can be achieved by comprehensive analysis of cancer cells, identified biomarkers for patient's selection and monitoring response, as well as targets for improved combination therapy.
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PMID:Integrative analysis of epigenetic modulation in melanoma cell response to decitabine: clinical implications. 1923 9

A tumor suppressor gene at 10q23.3, designated PTEN, encoding a dual-specificity phosphatase with lipid and protein phosphatase activity, has been shown to play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of a variety of human cancers. A frequent loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 10q is found in melanoma; however, little is known about the role of PTEN in the pathogenesis of a primary malignant melanoma derived from ovarian mature cystic teratoma, which is an extremely rare melanoma. This study examined the genetic alterations involved in the mitogen-activated protein kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase pathways in an ovarian malignant melanoma. A LOH analysis revealed hemizygous deletion around and in the PTEN gene not only in the ovarian melanoma but also in a mature cystic teratoma. Another case of ovarian mature cystic teratomas in the absence of melanoma also showed allelic loss of the PTEN region. To date, mutations of BRAF, NRAS, and KIT genes have been reported in malignant melanomas. In the present study, D816H and K558E mutations of the KIT gene were revealed in the melanoma arising from a mature cystic teratoma, but not in a mature cystic teratoma. No mutations of the BRAF and NRAS genes were found in the melanoma. These results indicate that LOH of the PTEN region is one of the molecular alterations of an ovarian mature cystic teratoma and a KIT mutation is an additional promotional event associated with the oncogenesis of a melanoma arising from an ovarian mature cystic teratoma.
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PMID:Mutations of the KIT gene and loss of heterozygosity of the PTEN region in a primary malignant melanoma arising from a mature cystic teratoma of the ovary. 1926 28

Melanoma is an aggressive disease for which there is no effective curative treatment beyond surgical excision of the primary lesion and regional disease. Epidemiological, clinical, in vitro and in vivo studies have provided insight into the biology of the disease. This review focuses on current understanding of key molecular pathways, cellular interaction and tumor microenvironment, and the respective aberrations identified in melanoma. Common mutations and/or deregulated expressions of B-raf, N-ras, PTEN, protein kinase B (aka Akt), CDKN2A, CDK4 and MDM2 were presented. In addition to genetic abnormalities, important aspects of cellular biology including, (i) the loss of cell-cell adhesion resulting in an altered state in the relative expression of cadherins, catenins and integrins, (ii) the interaction between melanoma cells and surrounding keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and immune cells, and (iii) tumor angiogenesis and vascular mimicry, are discussed. Many ongoing clinical trials of targeted biological therapies are based on current knowledge, the outcomes are eagerly awaited.
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PMID:Genetics, cellular biology and tumor microenvironment of melanoma. 1927 8

To look for a direct role of ultraviolet radiation (UV) exposure in cutaneous melanoma induction, we studied xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) patients who have defective DNA repair resulting in a 1000-fold increase in melanoma risk. These XP melanomas have the same anatomic distribution as melanomas in the general population. We analyzed laser capture microdissection samples of skin melanomas from XP patients studied at the National Institutes of Health. The tumor suppressor gene PTEN was sequenced and analyzed for UV-induced mutations. Samples from 59 melanomas (47 melanomas in situ and 12 invasive melanomas) from 8 XP patients showed mutations in the PTEN tumor suppressor gene in 56% of the melanomas. Further, 91% of the melanomas with mutations had 1 to 4 UV type base substitution mutations (occurring at adjacent pyrimidines) (P < 0.0001 compared to random mutations). We found a high frequency of amino-acid-altering mutations in the melanomas and demonstrated that these mutations impaired PTEN function; UV damage plays a direct role in induction of mutations and in inactivation of the PTEN gene in XP melanomas including in situ, the earliest stage of melanoma. This gene is known to be a key regulator of carcinogenesis and therefore these data provide solid mechanistic support for UV protection for prevention of melanoma.
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PMID:Evidence of ultraviolet type mutations in xeroderma pigmentosum melanomas. 1932 85

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. UV radiation in sunlight is the major environmental factor causing skin cancer development. PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10), a recently discovered tumor suppressor gene, is frequently mutated, deleted, or epigenetically silenced in various human cancers. PTEN negatively regulates the oncogenic phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathways. PTEN is clearly a critical tumor suppressor for skin cancer in humans and in mice. This review summarizes the recent progress in the function of PTEN in the development of skin cancer, including basal-cell carcinoma, squamous-cell carcinoma, and melanoma. The regulation of PTEN by UV radiation is also discussed in association with skin carcinogenesis. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms that lead to the reduction of PTEN function in skin carcinogenesis and the essential association with UV radiation opens up new opportunities for molecular chemoprevention and therapy of skin cancer by targeting PTEN pathways.
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PMID:PTEN: new insights into its regulation and function in skin cancer. 1934 9

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer without an effective treatment. An understanding of the genetic basis of melanoma has recently shed light on some of the mechanisms of melanomagenesis. This review explores the major genes involved in familial and sporadic cutaneous melanoma with an emphasis on CDKN2A, CDK4, MC1R, and MAPK pathway targets (e.g., RAS and BRAF), apoptosis regulators (e.g., BCL-2, AKT, and APAF-1), and the tumor-suppressor genes TP53 and PTEN. New directions for therapeutics based on our current knowledge of the genes implicated in melanoma are also discussed.
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PMID:Molecular pathogenesis of cutaneous melanocytic neoplasms. 1940 Jun 96


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