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Spotlight on Clinical Response

BRAF and NRAS mutations in melanoma: potential relationships to clinical response to HSP90 inhibitors

¹ Signal Transduction and Molecular Pharmacology Team and Clinical Pharmacology Team, Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics, The Institute of Cancer Research, ² The Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, United Kingdom; and ³ Signal Transduction Team, Cancer Research UK Centre for Cell and Molecular Biology, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom

Requests for reprints: Paul Workman, Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics, Haddow Laboratories, The Institute of Cancer Research, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5NG, United Kingdom. Phone: 44-20872-24301; Fax: 44-20872-24324.

Abstract

Oncogenic BRAF and NRAS mutations are frequent in malignant melanoma. BRAF that is activated by the common V600E and other mutations, as well as by upstream NRAS mutations, has been shown to require the molecular chaperone heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) for stabilization and is depleted by the HSP90 inhibitor 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG)]. Here, we explore the possible relationship between tumor BRAF and NRAS mutations and clinical response to 17-AAG in six patients with metastatic malignant melanoma who received pharmacologically active doses of 17-AAG as part of a phase I clinical trial. One patient with disease stabilization for 49 months had a ^G13DNRAS mutation and ^WTBRAF. A second patient who had stable disease for 15 months had a ^V600EBRAF mutation and ^WTNRAS. These preliminary results suggest that BRAF and NRAS mutation status should be determined in prospective phase II studies of HSP90 inhibitors in melanoma. [Mol Cancer Ther 2008;7(4):737–9]

Grant support: Cancer Research UK programme grants C309/A8274 and C309/A2187.

Received 2/19/08; accepted 2/26/08.