NEW TAILORED MEDICINE IN METASTASIC MELANOMA

Context: Metastatic Melanoma is one of the most aggressive form of skin cancer. Combination of targeted therapies or immune checkpoint therapies have increased the Overall Survival (OS) of patients with metastatic Melanoma (MM). Presently, on going trials consider the use of tri-therapies to extend the time of patient OS. Adjuvant therapies are also under investigation.

 Issue:

-Propose a new class of therapy: RNA-targeted therapy to the  ‘non-responders’ or ‘resistants’
-Increase the duration of the survival of patients with metastatic melanoma.
-Propose a new target for other types of melanoma (uveal, mucosal)
 

Solution: Scientists have identified a highly expressed mRNA that dampens the tumor suppressor activity of a miRNA. They propose to restore the activity of this ‘natural brake’ by avoiding miRNA sequestration. They use with success very specific Target Site Blockers (TSB, 16 modified nucleotides single strand).

 The offer includes:

-a companion test to predict the miRNA sequestration: 3 parameters are tested (one SNP and the expression level of two mRNA).
-A RNA-targeted therapy: TSB are injected sub-cutaneously, vectoriization is not required. They restore the tumor suppressor activity of a given miRNA in melanoma cells and consequently abolish cell proliferation.