Melanoma Protein Stimulates Cancer Spread

Anoikis resistant cells have the potential to metastasize and spread the cancer to other sites in the body.

Mcl-1 is a member of the Bcl-2 protein family, several of which are up regulated in melanoma. In the current study investigators at Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA, USA) used RNA interference to deplete Mcl-1 from melanoma cells growing in tissue culture. They reported in the April 2009 issue of the journal Molecular Cancer Research that the treated cells lost their resistance to anoikis, a form of apoptosis that kills cells when they become detached from the extracellular matrix. Depletion of other Bcl-2 proteins was much less effective than removal of Mcl-1.

"When we depleted Mcl-1 from the tumor cells, they were susceptible to cell death," said senior author Dr. Andrew Aplin, associate professor of cancer biology at Thomas Jefferson University. "Mcl-1 showed dramatic results compared to Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL, which was a surprise. Our findings show that targeting Mcl-1, which is up regulated in a majority of melanoma cells, could be a viable treatment strategy."

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