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Clinical protein science in translational medicine targeting malignant melanoma

Gil, Jeovanis LU ; Betancourt, Lazaro Hiram LU ; Pla, Indira LU orcid ; Sanchez, Aniel LU ; Appelqvist, Roger LU ; Miliotis, Tasso LU ; Kuras, Magdalena LU orcid ; Oskolas, Henriette LU ; Kim, Yonghyo LU and Horvath, Zsolt LU , et al. (2019) In Cell Biology and Toxicology 35(4). p.293-332
Abstract

Melanoma of the skin is the sixth most common type of cancer in Europe and accounts for 3.4% of all diagnosed cancers. More alarming is the degree of recurrence that occurs with approximately 20% of patients lethally relapsing following treatment. Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer and metastases rapidly extend to the regional lymph nodes (stage 3) and to distal organs (stage 4). Targeted oncotherapy is one of the standard treatment for progressive stage 4 melanoma, and BRAF inhibitors (e.g. vemurafenib, dabrafenib) combined with MEK inhibitor (e.g. trametinib) can effectively counter BRAFV600E-mutated melanomas. Compared to conventional chemotherapy, targeted BRAFV600E inhibition achieves a significantly higher... (More)

Melanoma of the skin is the sixth most common type of cancer in Europe and accounts for 3.4% of all diagnosed cancers. More alarming is the degree of recurrence that occurs with approximately 20% of patients lethally relapsing following treatment. Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer and metastases rapidly extend to the regional lymph nodes (stage 3) and to distal organs (stage 4). Targeted oncotherapy is one of the standard treatment for progressive stage 4 melanoma, and BRAF inhibitors (e.g. vemurafenib, dabrafenib) combined with MEK inhibitor (e.g. trametinib) can effectively counter BRAFV600E-mutated melanomas. Compared to conventional chemotherapy, targeted BRAFV600E inhibition achieves a significantly higher response rate. After a period of cancer control, however, most responsive patients develop resistance to the therapy and lethal progression. The many underlying factors potentially causing resistance to BRAF inhibitors have been extensively studied. Nevertheless, the remaining unsolved clinical questions necessitate alternative research approaches to address the molecular mechanisms underlying metastatic and treatment-resistant melanoma. In broader terms, proteomics can address clinical questions far beyond the reach of genomics, by measuring, i.e. the relative abundance of protein products, post-translational modifications (PTMs), protein localisation, turnover, protein interactions and protein function. More specifically, proteomic analysis of body fluids and tissues in a given medical and clinical setting can aid in the identification of cancer biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets. Achieving this goal requires the development of a robust and reproducible clinical proteomic platform that encompasses automated biobanking of patient samples, tissue sectioning and histological examination, efficient protein extraction, enzymatic digestion, mass spectrometry–based quantitative protein analysis by label-free or labelling technologies and/or enrichment of peptides with specific PTMs. By combining data from, e.g. phosphoproteomics and acetylomics, the protein expression profiles of different melanoma stages can provide a solid framework for understanding the biology and progression of the disease. When complemented by proteogenomics, customised protein sequence databases generated from patient-specific genomic and transcriptomic data aid in interpreting clinical proteomic biomarker data to provide a deeper and more comprehensive molecular characterisation of cellular functions underlying disease progression. In parallel to a streamlined, patient-centric, clinical proteomic pipeline, mass spectrometry–based imaging can aid in interrogating the spatial distribution of drugs and drug metabolites within tissues at single-cell resolution. These developments are an important advancement in studying drug action and efficacy in vivo and will aid in the development of more effective and safer strategies for the treatment of melanoma. A collaborative effort of gargantuan proportions between academia and healthcare professionals has led to the initiation, establishment and development of a cutting-edge cancer research centre with a specialisation in melanoma and lung cancer. The primary research focus of the European Cancer Moonshot Lund Center is to understand the impact that drugs have on cancer at an individualised and personalised level. Simultaneously, the centre increases awareness of the relentless battle against cancer and attracts global interest in the exceptional research performed at the centre.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cancer moonshot, Clinical proteomics, Malignant melanoma, Post-translational modifications, Translational medicine
in
Cell Biology and Toxicology
volume
35
issue
4
pages
293 - 332
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • pmid:30900145
  • scopus:85063336693
ISSN
0742-2091
DOI
10.1007/s10565-019-09468-6
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fd4529a7-6f5b-496c-aacf-9bdcf30570e4
date added to LUP
2019-04-02 14:02:01
date last changed
2024-10-01 19:35:56
@article{fd4529a7-6f5b-496c-aacf-9bdcf30570e4,
  abstract     = {{<p>Melanoma of the skin is the sixth most common type of cancer in Europe and accounts for 3.4% of all diagnosed cancers. More alarming is the degree of recurrence that occurs with approximately 20% of patients lethally relapsing following treatment. Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer and metastases rapidly extend to the regional lymph nodes (stage 3) and to distal organs (stage 4). Targeted oncotherapy is one of the standard treatment for progressive stage 4 melanoma, and BRAF inhibitors (e.g. vemurafenib, dabrafenib) combined with MEK inhibitor (e.g. trametinib) can effectively counter BRAFV600E-mutated melanomas. Compared to conventional chemotherapy, targeted BRAFV600E inhibition achieves a significantly higher response rate. After a period of cancer control, however, most responsive patients develop resistance to the therapy and lethal progression. The many underlying factors potentially causing resistance to BRAF inhibitors have been extensively studied. Nevertheless, the remaining unsolved clinical questions necessitate alternative research approaches to address the molecular mechanisms underlying metastatic and treatment-resistant melanoma. In broader terms, proteomics can address clinical questions far beyond the reach of genomics, by measuring, i.e. the relative abundance of protein products, post-translational modifications (PTMs), protein localisation, turnover, protein interactions and protein function. More specifically, proteomic analysis of body fluids and tissues in a given medical and clinical setting can aid in the identification of cancer biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets. Achieving this goal requires the development of a robust and reproducible clinical proteomic platform that encompasses automated biobanking of patient samples, tissue sectioning and histological examination, efficient protein extraction, enzymatic digestion, mass spectrometry–based quantitative protein analysis by label-free or labelling technologies and/or enrichment of peptides with specific PTMs. By combining data from, e.g. phosphoproteomics and acetylomics, the protein expression profiles of different melanoma stages can provide a solid framework for understanding the biology and progression of the disease. When complemented by proteogenomics, customised protein sequence databases generated from patient-specific genomic and transcriptomic data aid in interpreting clinical proteomic biomarker data to provide a deeper and more comprehensive molecular characterisation of cellular functions underlying disease progression. In parallel to a streamlined, patient-centric, clinical proteomic pipeline, mass spectrometry–based imaging can aid in interrogating the spatial distribution of drugs and drug metabolites within tissues at single-cell resolution. These developments are an important advancement in studying drug action and efficacy in vivo and will aid in the development of more effective and safer strategies for the treatment of melanoma. A collaborative effort of gargantuan proportions between academia and healthcare professionals has led to the initiation, establishment and development of a cutting-edge cancer research centre with a specialisation in melanoma and lung cancer. The primary research focus of the European Cancer Moonshot Lund Center is to understand the impact that drugs have on cancer at an individualised and personalised level. Simultaneously, the centre increases awareness of the relentless battle against cancer and attracts global interest in the exceptional research performed at the centre.</p>}},
  author       = {{Gil, Jeovanis and Betancourt, Lazaro Hiram and Pla, Indira and Sanchez, Aniel and Appelqvist, Roger and Miliotis, Tasso and Kuras, Magdalena and Oskolas, Henriette and Kim, Yonghyo and Horvath, Zsolt and Eriksson, Jonatan and Berge, Ethan and Burestedt, Elisabeth and Jönsson, Göran and Baldetorp, Bo and Ingvar, Christian and Olsson, Håkan and Lundgren, Lotta and Horvatovich, Peter and Murillo, Jimmy Rodriguez and Sugihara, Yutaka and Welinder, Charlotte and Wieslander, Elisabet and Lee, Boram and Lindberg, Henrik and Pawłowski, Krzysztof and Kwon, Ho Jeong and Doma, Viktoria and Timar, Jozsef and Karpati, Sarolta and Szasz, A. Marcell and Németh, István Balázs and Nishimura, Toshihide and Corthals, Garry and Rezeli, Melinda and Knudsen, Beatrice and Malm, Johan and Marko-Varga, György}},
  issn         = {{0742-2091}},
  keywords     = {{Cancer moonshot; Clinical proteomics; Malignant melanoma; Post-translational modifications; Translational medicine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{293--332}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Cell Biology and Toxicology}},
  title        = {{Clinical protein science in translational medicine targeting malignant melanoma}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10565-019-09468-6}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10565-019-09468-6}},
  volume       = {{35}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}