Hard times for oncogenic BRAF-expressing melanoma cells.
In this issue of Cancer Cell, Arozarena et al. describe that the oncogenic BRAF Val600Glu mutant, which occurs in about half of melanomas, downregulates the cGMP-hydrolysing phosphodiesterase PDE5A in melanoma cells through the ERK-MAPK cascade coupled to the POU-domain transcription factor BRN2, thereby increasing intracellular cGMP levels and promoting invasiveness.
Molecular Pharmacology Group, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, CMVLS, Wolfson Link and Davidson Buildings, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK. miles.houslay@glasgow.ac.uk
Miles D
MD
Houslay