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bcl-2 antisense therapy chemosensitizes human melanoma in SCID mice

Abstract

Malignant melanoma is a prime example of cancers that respond poorly to various treatment modalities including chemotherapy1. A number of chemotherapeutic agents have been shown recently to act by inducing apoptosis, a type of cell death antagonized by the bcl-2 gene2. Human melanoma expresses Bcl-2 in up to 90% of all cases3–7. In the present study we demonstrate that bcl-2 antisense oligonucleotide treatment improves the chemo-sensitivity of human melanoma grown in severe combined im-munodeficient (SCID) mice. Our findings suggest that reduction of Bcl-2 in melanoma, and possibly also in a variety of other tumors, may be a novel and rational approach to improve chemosensitivity and treatment outcome.

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Jansen, B., Schlagbauer-Wadl, H., Brown, B. et al. bcl-2 antisense therapy chemosensitizes human melanoma in SCID mice. Nat Med 4, 232–234 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0298-232

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