Molecularly targeted therapy for melanoma: current reality and future options

Abstract

Effective therapy for melanoma remains an unmet goal, with most traditional therapies representing inadequate trade-offs among the several goals of specificity, efficacy, and toxicity. Targeted molecular therapeutics are tailored to genetic abnormalities that are associated with tumor progression. Modulation of aberrant signaling pathways in cancer cells has the potential to provide more effective and potentially nontoxic therapy for a broad range of cancers, including melanoma. Among the possible targets in melanoma are the Ras-MAPK and PI3K/AKT signal transduction pathways, the proteasome, histone deacetylases, methyltransferases, and melanoma-induced angiogenesis.