Scientists identify interacting proteins key to melanoma development, treatment

"This tells us that you can have a mole but it cannot turn into melanoma without the presence of the Akt3 protein," explained Robertson.

While it is still unclear what brings the B-Raf and Akt3 proteins together, the Penn State researchers say they now have a better understanding of how these two proteins interact to cause melanoma.

The initial mutation of the B-Raf gene helps to create moles, but high levels of B-Raf activity due to the mutation prevents the cells from becoming a melanoma. It is only when the Akt3 protein is present in those cells and communicates with B-Raf that it lower its activity, thereby creating favorable conditions within the mole for cells to multiply, and allow them to turn into a melanoma.

Robertson said the discovery could pave the way for newer and more effective treatments for melanoma.

"We have shown that if we target the two proteins separately, it somewhat inhibits the development of tumors but if we target them together, the development of tumors gets inhibited significantly," he added. "It validates these proteins as key targets for effective melanoma therapy."

Robertson envisions that future physicians could look at blood samples from melanoma patients containing melanoma cells and determine whether the two proteins are in their cells. The patients could then receive drugs that target these proteins to more effectively treat their disease. It would be personalized cancer treatment that would be more effective and less toxic with fewer side effects, the Penn State researcher explained.

"In the search for a cure for melanoma, we are now closer because we know that we need to target these two proteins in order to have a dramatic impact on the development of melanoma," Robertson added.

For patients, this means that in the future, some new drug could target these proteins to treat advanced disease or be added to sunscreen lotion, for instance, that would prevent Akt3 functioning in the cell. It would not only help control a tumor, but also prevent one as well.

Other researchers on the paper include Mitchell Cheung, Arati Sharma and SubbaRao V. Madhunapantula, all of the Penn State College of Medicine.

The Melanoma Research Foundation, American Cancer Society, The Foreman Foundation for Melanoma Research and Elsa U. Pardee Foundation funded this work.