Date of Graduation
8-2016
Document Type
Thesis (MS)
Program Affiliation
Biomedical Sciences
Degree Name
Masters of Science (MS)
Advisor/Committee Chair
Dr. Filip Janku
Committee Member
Dr. Funda Meric-Bernstam
Committee Member
Dr. Karen Lu
Committee Member
Dr. Eduardo Vilar Sanchez
Committee Member
Dr. Aung Naing
Abstract
Vemurafenib has been approved in the United States for the treatment of relapsed or refractory BRAF mutation positive malignant melanoma and is being investigated in various other malignancies. The RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK (MAPK) pathway is critical to cell proliferation in many human cancers. The mTOR inhibitors are well known to exert profound anticancer effects across malignancies through inhibition of the PTEN/PI3K/AKT/mTOR (mTOR) pathway. We hypothesize that the toxicity profile of the combination of vemurafenib and everolimus will be well tolerated. The primary objective is to find the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and the toxicity of the combination of vemurafenib and everolimus following a standard 3 + 3 design. The most common diagnosis was melanoma in 5 out of 10 patients (50%). Male patients in 7 out of 10 patients (70%). The average age was 63.5 years. Two out of 10 patients (20%) had partial responses and an additional 2 out of 10 patients (20%) had stable disease.
Keywords
vemurafenib, everolimus, MAPK, mTOR