BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

CXCL10-CXCR3 axis inhibition to block brain metastasis from melanoma

September 13, 2019 12:03 AM UTC

INDICATION: Melanoma

Inhibiting the chemoattractant CXCL10 or its receptor CXCR3 could prevent melanoma from forming brain metastases. Levels of CXCL10 mRNA were higher in metastases-associated astrocytes isolated from mice with melanoma than in astrocytes from normal mice, and levels of CXCR3 mRNA and protein were higher in brain-tropic mouse melanoma cells than in non-brain-tropic melanoma cells. In cell migration assays evaluating melanoma cell migration across a filter towards astrocytes, an anti-CXCL10 neutralizing antibody or CXCR3 knockdown in the tumor cells reduced melanoma cell migration. In mice modeling melanoma, tumor-specific knockdown of CXCR3 decreased the incidence and lesion size of brain metastases...