Description
The emergence of effective inhibitors for BRAF-mutant melanoma has had major impact on clinical management of melanoma 1,2. The initial success of such treatments, however, has been limited due to the propensity of melanomas to develop resistance 3-5. In most cases, mechanisms underlying BRAFi-resistance include activation of genetic or epigenetic pathways that circumvent targeted BRAF and restore MAPK and related signaling to levels sufficient to encourage tumorigenesis 3-7. This outcome has led to development of combination therapies targeting both BRAF and associated pathways, such as MEK and PI3K 8,9, albeit, with limited success. Furthermore, 50% of melanomas, such as those harboring NRAS and NF1 mutations, lack BRAF mutations and are thus not amenable to BRAFi therapy 10,11. Thus tumor chemoresistance and the lack of therapies for BRAF wild-type (WT) tumors remains a major clinical challenge.