Find out the cause of 'melanoma' that doesn't work well with anticancer drugs...Presenting a New Cure

[Anchor]
Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, has a mortality rate of more than 70%, but anticancer drugs currently used in clinical practice are highly resistant and difficult to cure.

Researchers in Korea have identified the process of melanoma resistance to anticancer drugs and suggested a new strategy for treating incurable diseases.

This is reporter Lee Sung Kyu.

[Reporter]
Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, is caused by abnormalities in melanocytes in the human body that make black or brown skin pigments.

Melanoma is also a fatal cancer with a high mortality rate due to frequent metastasis and recurrence.

Currently, anticancer drugs widely used in clinical practice are a method of suppressing the mutant viraf (BRAF) gene, which is considered a major cause of melanoma.

However, even this has a limitation in that it is difficult to cure due to the large drug resistance problem.

Meanwhile, domestic researchers have newly discovered the process by which melanoma becomes resistant to Viraf anticancer drugs.

According to the study, excessive production of a substance called polyamine that promotes cell growth and proliferation increases resistance to Viraf anticancer drugs.

This is the first study to reveal that polyamine is the cause of the resistance to viraf anticancer drugs.

[Kim Taek-hoon / KIST researcher: It was confirmed that when the production of polyamines increased, even the biosynthesis of mitochondria in cells increased. By confirming that as mitochondrial activity increases, resistance to anticancer drugs develops....]

Based on this, the researchers said that developing substances that block the production of polyamines can develop new anticancer drugs that can overcome resistance problems.

With UV exposure and aging, the number of skin cancer patients is increasing rapidly worldwide.

We hope that a new treatment strategy for melanoma, which is difficult to treat due to resistance to anticancer drugs, will be a breakthrough in overcoming incurable cancer.

I'm Lee Sung Kyu of YTN Science.


Video coverage: Kim Young-hwan
Design: Im Saetbyul