bcl-2 antisense therapy chemosensitizes human melanoma in SCID mice

Malignant melanoma is a prime example of cancers that respond poorly to various treatment modalities including chemotherapy(1). A number of chemotherapeutic agents have been shown recently to act by inducing apoptosis, a type of cell death antagonized by the bcl-2 gene(2). Human melanoma expresses Bcl-2 in up to 90% of all cases(3-7). In the present study we demonstrate that bcl-2 antisense oligonucleotide treatment improves the chemosensitivity of human melanoma grown in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. Our findings suggest that reduction of Bcl-2 in melanoma, and possibly also in a variety of other tumors, may be a novel and rational approach to improve chemosensitivity and treatment outcome.