30 Nov Potent New Compound May Overcome Melanoma Resistance

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ze’ev Ronai, PhD
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Dr. Ronai: We have been studying the parent compound for some time and have performed a series of complementing assays to identify mechanisms underlying the activity of this compound as well as to determine the primary target for this small molecule. These included gene expression changes, mutations in tumor cells that became resistant to the drug and also direct association with cellular proteins.

The main finding is that sbi-756 is a potent compound which can be used to overcome couple of the utmost clinical unmet needs today, namely, resistance of melanoma to currently used inhibitors in the clinic (i.e. vemurafenieb) and use in tumors that are braf negative (to which we lack specific therapies today)

The use of drugs that can tamper with the translation initiation complex to the degree sufficient to affect tumors but not normal cells, as reflected in the lack of toxicity seen with sbi-756 offers important advance in our quest for novel therapeutic modalities that address unmet clinical needs.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Ronai: The consideration for use of select drugs that impact the translation initiation complex may offer advantages over current available therapies and may allow to target a larger set of tumors, independent of their genetic makeup.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Ronai: Further development of sbi-756 for possible clinical use and advancing promising drugs that target the translation initiation complex would offer benefits to current needs.

Citation:

Feng, A. B. Pinkerton, L. Hulea, T. Zhang, M. A. Davies, S. Grotegut, Y. Cheli, H. Yin, E. Lau, H. Kim, S. K. De, E. Barile, M. Pellecchia, M. Bosenberg, J.-L. Li, B. James, C. A. Hassig, K. M. Brown, I. Topisirovic, Z. A. Ronai. SBI-0640756 Attenuates the Growth of Clinically Unresponsive Melanomas by Disrupting the eIF4F Translation Initiation Complex. Cancer Research, 2015; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-0885

[wysija_form id=”5″]

Ze’ev Ronai, PhD (2015). Potent New Compound May Overcome Melanoma Resistance 

Last Updated on November 30, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD