Scientists from the University of Virginia have confirmed the effectiveness of pevoneedistat in the treatment of melanoma in human trials. The results of the study are published in the journal EBioMedicine.
Pevonedistat is a selective inhibitor of the Nedd8-activating enzyme and is considered an anticancer drug. It was developed in 2015 and is now in clinical trials. Until now, the mechanism of action of pevonelystat was unclear, since it was designed to "turn off" hundreds, if not thousands of proteins. In a new study, the authors identified one of these proteins - it provides for the rapid replication of cancer cells, in particular melanoma.
The protein inhibited by the drug was linked to the CDT2 gene. Its high content is typical for various tumors, for example, brain, liver, breast tumors. In the case of melanoma, the expression of CDT2 is more pronounced, as a result, there is an increased sensitivity of this type of tumor to the drug. By blocking the production of the CDT2 protein, pevoneedistat stops the replication of cancer cells and they are destroyed.
“We really hope that the drug will play a big role in the fight against melanoma. Tests show that it is effective against all types of melanoma, including resistant melanoma,”said Terek Abbas University spokesman. He added that if approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pevoneedistat could be used as a second line of therapy.
Melanoma is a malignant tumor that is often localized to the skin. Melanoma is characterized by a high frequency of relapses and localized stasis, and therefore its treatment is fraught with significant difficulties. The main method of therapy for initial melanoma is surgical removal; for metastatic melanoma, immunotherapy, polychemotherapy and radiation therapy are used. First-line treatment for stage III melanoma has a survival rate of 20–45 percent.
