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The Role of Autophagy in the Resistance to BRAF Inhibition in BRAF-Mutated Melanoma

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Abstract

Malignant melanoma is the most aggressive and notorious skin cancer, and metastatic disease is associated with very poor long-term survival outcomes. Although metastatic melanoma patients with oncogenic mutations in the BRAF gene initially respond well to the treatment with specific BRAF inhibitors, most of them will eventually develop resistance to this targeted therapy. As a highly conserved catabolic process, autophagy is responsible for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and cell survival, and is involved in multiple diseases, including cancer. Recent study results have indicated that autophagy might play a decisive role in the resistance to BRAF inhibitors in BRAF-mutated melanomas. In this review, we will discuss how autophagy is up-regulated by BRAF inhibitors, and how autophagy induces the resistance to these agents.

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  1. Department of Dermatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200040, China

    Xiao Liu, Jinfeng Wu, Haihong Qin & Jinhua Xu

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  1. Xiao Liu
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  2. Jinfeng Wu
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Xiao Liu, Jinfeng Wu, Haihong Qin, and Jinhua Xu declare that they have no conflicts of interest that might be relevant to the contents of this manuscript.

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Liu, X., Wu, J., Qin, H. et al. The Role of Autophagy in the Resistance to BRAF Inhibition in BRAF-Mutated Melanoma. Targ Oncol 13, 437–446 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-018-0565-2

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