UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have identified a possible new drug target for a potentially deadly form of skin cancer that, when blocked in a pre-clinical study in mice, reduced the cancer’s growth.

The researchers found high levels of a particular enzyme in melanoma samples that they believe is a driver of the cancer’s growth. The enzyme, called interleukin-2 inducible T-cell kinase, or ITK, has not previously been explored as a driver of solid tumors. Normally, it’s expressed in a subset of the body’s disease-fighting immune cells.

“ITK has been conceived of as a therapeutic target for inflammatory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, but because ITK had not been noted in melanoma before, it has not been a target for its treatment,” Carson said. “I expect ITK to become an important therapeutic target for melanoma because of the expected minimal side effects, and the fact that ITK is found in so many of the melanomas we have investigated.”

Funded in part by the University Cancer Research Fund, the findings were the result of years of collaborative work involving multiple UNC Lineberger researchers and University of North Carolina School of Medicine departments.