The discovery that two new drugs can control melanoma offers hope for the treatment of this cancer that has devastating consequences in humans. Melanoma is cancer of the pigment cells in the skin. Although it accounts for only 4% of all skin cancers, it is responsible for almost 80% of the deaths, particularly because it tends to spread early in its course. This recent finding can revolutionize the treatment not only of melanoma but of other cancers as well.

Melanoma kills by spreading through blood and lymph nodes into the internal organs of the body. This is what makes it more dangerous than other skin cancers which don’t metastasize as easily. A melanoma the size of a dime on the skin has a 50% chance of having already spread. In addition, melanoma is spreading faster than any other kind of cancer in the United States. It is estimated that at least one person in the country dies of skin cancer every hour.

One study focused on an experimental drug called Vemurafenib. The drug was given to 675 people worldwide who had late stage metastatic melanoma. The drug acts by targeting a mutated gene that tells cancer cells to grow rapidly in 50 percent of melanoma patients who carry this mutation. In patients with this mutation, the drug not only killed cancer cells but shrunk the size of tumors as well. Vemurafenib, which is taken orally, has fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy.

Tumors result from cell growth that gets out of control. Those patients who were responsive to Vemurafenib had a mutation in a gene called BRAF, which results in a protein being produced which makes the cells multiply out of control and form tumors. Vemurafenib acts by neutralizing the effects of the mutation in the BRAF gene. What makes this finding particularly important is that a similar approach may be tried on other cancers whose origins can be traced to a genetic mutation.

The role of the BRAF mutation in the production of melanoma had been discovered in 2002 by scientists at the Sanger Institute in Britain. Since then, researchers both in Britain and in the US have been working to see whether drugs targeting the mutation might interfere with tumor growth. Although initial trials were disappointing, a new formulation of the drug under study increased its penetration in the target cells and allowed to obtain better results.

Prior to this study there were no treatment options for dealing with metastatic melanoma resulting from the BRAF mutation. “Until now, available therapies [for metastatic melanoma] were few and unreliable, so these findings can really change the outlook for patients whose tumors are fueled by this mutation,” stated Keith Flaherty, MD, director of Development Therapeutics at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, lead and corresponding author of the article describing the effects of the new drug.

In a second study, a drug called Ipilimumab, sold under the trade name Yervoy, was tested for its effects on melanoma patients with advanced disease. Yervoy acts differently than Vemurafenib since it does not target cancer cells but instead stimulates the patients’ immune system response. The study with this drug showed that 21 percent of patients treated with Yervoy were alive after three years compared to 12 percent of patients who had received traditional chemotherapy or a placebo.

Because Ipilimumab acts by stimulating the patients’ immune system it can have serious side effects. An important side effect observed was liver damage. An additional disadvantage in the use of both drugs is the elevated cost of treatment. However, given the promising results so far, efforts are underway to see the effects of both drugs used in the same patients. If initial results are improved, we may be facing a radically new and effective treatment not only of melanoma but of other cancers as well.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant. He conducted research in molecular genetics at the Public Health Institute of the City of New York.