New treatments for the most severe form of skin cancer could be developed after a major scientific breakthrough. Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in the UK with around 16,000 new cases diagnosed each year.
Now American scientists have discovered that inhibiting a key metabolic enzyme "shows promise" in tackling melanoma. Researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys in California have shown for the first time that inhibiting the enzyme selectively kills melanoma cells and stops tumour growth.
The research, whose findings were published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, say their findings could lead to a new class of drugs to selectively treat melanoma. Study leader Professor Ze’ev Ronai, director of the Cancer Centre at Sanford Burnham Prebys, said: “We found that melanoma is addicted to an enzyme called GCDH.
