Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Melanoma / 22.07.2021
Melanoma: Animal Model Suggests Antibiotics May One Day Be Helpful in Controlling Resistant Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Eleonora Leucci, Ph.D Assistant Professor
Laboratory for RNA Cancer Biology
Department of Oncology
KU Leuven
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Back in 2016, while I was characterising the RNA SAMMSON as essential for mitochondrial translation in melanoma, I noticed that its inhibition was causing cell death across a large spectrum of melanoma cell lines and models, irrespectively of their genetic background and cell state. At that time I still did not know why the effect was so pronounced on melanoma cells, but I knew that antibiotics of the tetracycline family could also block mitochondrial translation and I thought about repurposing them to treat melanoma.
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