Posted on 08/14/2023 10:16:58 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
A collaborative study shows that the administration of ranolazine, a drug currently used to treat heart conditions, improves the efficacy of current therapies for melanoma, in mouse models of this disease.
The results of the study offers an alternative therapeutic approach to treat melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer, which affects 16.3 women and 14.6 men per 100,000 inhabitants in Spain.
In most cases, patients with melanoma respond well to therapies directed against one of the key genes in tumor progression, namely BRAF. However, they soon develop resistance to these therapies and the tumors grow back. In addition, the latest clinical studies suggest that these patients show a poorer response to immunotherapy.
This study has provided a deeper understanding of the role of fatty acid metabolism in the development of resistance to BRAF inhibitors and demonstrated the capacity of ranolazine to slow down tumor progression. More importantly, this drug increases the visibility of melanoma cells to the immune system, thereby improving response to immunotherapies and increasing the ability of lymphocytes to control tumor growth.
"This study demonstrates that it is possible to pharmacologically reorganize the metabolism of the tumor cell to improve the effect of targeted therapies and immunotherapies. The next challenge is to demonstrate the clinical effect of these combinations in patients and study the potential of ranolazine in other types of cancer." says Dr. Imanol Arozarena.
The Institute of Neurosciences conducted the immunotherapy trials with mice and the study of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
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