MEK'ing the most of p53 reactivation therapy in melanoma.

Melanoma is one of the few tumor types in which p53 is functionally repressed without extraneous mutations. With the number of kinase-based drug targets rapidly declining, p53 represents a relatively untapped resource for therapeutic intervention. Studies in other tumor types have demonstrated that reactivation of p53 is a viable strategy to initiate sustained tumor regression; combining p53 reactivation while inhibiting traditional genetic targets, such as mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-related kinase kinase (MEK), holds therapeutic promise.