Carboplatin, paclitaxel and sorafenib in advanced melanoma – what have we learned?

Sorafenib is a small orally available multikinase inhibitor which is approved for the treatment of advanced renal cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma and is one of the first agents in molecular targeted therapy that was brought into clinical trials for metastatic melanoma patients. It blocks tumor proliferation by targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor receptors, platelet-derived growth factor receptors, RAF1, BRAF and probably other receptors involved in signal transduction in tumor cells (1). It is not exactly understood which targets of the above are the most relevant ones in the therapy of advanced melanoma.