PHILADELPHIA (December 11, 2018) — Jonathan Chernoff, MD, PhD, chief scientific officer and Stanley P. Reimann Chair in Oncology Research at Fox Chase Cancer Center, has received a grant from the Melanoma Research Foundation to support his research on RAC1 mutant melanoma. The grant will provide $200,000 over two years.
With this grant, the Chernoff laboratory will further investigate two newly discovered genes, PREX2 and RAC1, that cause melanoma in response to sun damage. These genes encode proteins that act in a common pathway on cells, which directly activate a protein called PAK. Broadly, the lab studies the process of neoplastic transformation with the goal of uncovering the role of protein phosphorylation in governing fundamental aspects of cancer biology.
“The first aim of the research made possible by this grant is to determine how melanoma cells adapt to and eventually evade PAK inhibitors and then use the knowledge acquired to cut off the melanoma cell’s ability to escape from such drugs,” Chernoff said.
He said the second aim is to devise a new mouse model of melanoma by inserting the mutant RAC1 gene into the mouse genome. The mouse model will be used to evaluate the efficacy of anti-melanoma drugs such as PAK inhibitors and other agents.