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Targeted Therapy for Melanoma using Synthetic Inhibitory Peptides

Ming-Wan Su, MD University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Among patients who are diagnosed with malignant melanoma, only a small percentage of them will survive due to the lack of effective therapies for this cancer. For that reason, our goal is to develop targeted therapies for metastatic melanoma. Previous experiments have identified Collagen Triple Helix Repeat Containing 1 (CTHRC1) to be upregulated in metastatic melanoma. Moreover, CTHRC1 was shown to have pro-survival and pro-metastasis functions in cultured melanoma cells. As a result, we hypothesize that inhibiting the function of this protein may inhibit or eliminate metastatic melanoma cells. In this proposed project, the objective is to evaluate the inhibitory ability of synthetic peptides binders of CTHRC1 in vitro. At the end of this project, we expect to identify several functional peptide inhibitors of CTHRC1, which may lead to the development of specific and effective therapeutics for melanoma.

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