The evolution of combined molecular targeted therapies to advance the therapeutic efficacy in melanoma: a highlight of vemurafenib and cobimetinib.

ABSTRACT: Metastatic melanoma is an aggressive, rapidly progressive disease which historically had very few effective treatment options. However, since 2011, the therapeutic landscape of melanoma has undergone a dramatic transformation with two distinct approaches and has catalyzed the successful advancement in the clinical field of immuno-oncology. In addition, the recognition of a key oncogenic driver mutation in melanoma, BRAF, stimulated the development of multiple potent kinase inhibitors which has also influenced the expansion and use of targeted agents in the practice of oncology. Vemurafenib, the initial BRAF inhibitor approved for the treatment of melanoma, was the first agent to demonstrate rapid clinical responses and significantly improved survival which was a clinical breakthrough in th

SUBMITTER: Medina TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4922803 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature