Targeted therapeutic strategies in malignant melanoma

Melanoma is one of the most common cancer types among the Caucasian population. Although prognosis is excellent for patients treated by adequate surgery, advanced disease shrinks the overall survival at five years to less than 10%. The appropriate systemic treatment for disseminated melanoma is controversial. Therefore, we briefly describe current treatment strategies and focus on four emerging developments: antiangiogenic drugs, Bcl-2 antisense therapy, RAF kinase inhibitors and anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen (CTLA)-4 monoclonal antibody.

Section editor:Michael Roberts – School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Australia