Challenges in the delivery of therapies to melanoma brain metastases.

ABSTRACT: Brain metastases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with advanced melanoma. Recent approval of several molecularly-targeted agents and biologics has brought hope to patients with this previously untreatable disease. However, patients with symptomatic melanoma brain metastases have often been excluded from pivotal clinical trials. This may be in part attributed to the fact that several of the approved small molecule molecularly-targeted agents are substrates for active efflux at the blood-brain barrier, limiting their effective delivery to brain metastases. We believe that successful treatment of melanoma brain metastases will depend on the ability of these agents to traverse the blood-brain barrier and reach micrometastases that are often not clinically detectable. Mo

SUBMITTER: Gampa G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5440090 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature