Is resistance to targeted therapy in cancer inevitable?

Lorey K Smith; Karen E Sheppard; Grant A McArthur

doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2021.07.013

Is resistance to targeted therapy in cancer inevitable?

Cancer Cell. 2021 Aug 9;39(8):1047-1049. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2021.07.013.

Authors

Lorey K Smith¹, Karen E Sheppard², Grant A McArthur³

Affiliations

¹ The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, 3000 VIC, Australia; The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052 VIC, Australia.
² The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, 3000 VIC, Australia; The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052 VIC, Australia; Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052 VIC, Australia.
³ The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, 3000 VIC, Australia; The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052 VIC, Australia. Electronic address: grant.mcarthur@petermac.org.

PMID: 34375607
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2021.07.013

Abstract

Resistance to targeted therapies is a major challenge in cancer care and occurs via genetic and non-genetic mechanisms. In this issue of Cancer Cell, Marin-Bejar et al. demonstrate that melanomas recurrently select genetic or non-genetic resistance trajectories and that targeting neural crest stem cell-like cells prevents non-genetic, but not genetic, resistance.

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MeSH terms

Humans
Melanoma* / drug therapy
Melanoma* / genetics
Neural Crest