A new study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has identified a way to tailor drug combinations based on specific tumor biology to improve outcomes for treatment-resistant advanced melanoma.

In preclinical models from patients with treatment-resistant tumors, combining standard BRAF and MEK inhibitors with a drug to block proteins in the BCL2 family—which drive tumor growth—induced tumor regression in a molecularly defined subset of resistant tumors, suggesting a path toward biomarker-guided therapy.

The study, published in Nature Communications, was led by Vashisht Gopal Yennu Nanda, Ph.D., associate professor of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Molecular Pathology, in collaboration with senior author Michael A. Davies, M.D., Ph.D., chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology.