Considering the antitumor activity of benzothiazolic derivatives, this study aimed to demonstrate the action of benzothiazolic (E)-2-((2-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)hydrazono)methyl)-4-nitrophenol (AFN01) against three established human melanoma cell lines that recapitulate the molecular landscape of the disease in terms of its genetic alterations and mutations, such as the TP53, NRAS and B-RAF genes.
The mutations, such as those in NRAS, BRAF, GNAQ and GNA11, promote the growth of melanoma cells in most part through the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway.
Besides frequent mutations in growth- and survival-promoting genes like BRAF and NRAS, melanomas additionally harbor complex non-random genomic alterations.
This activating mutation, the third most frequent in our cohort of sun-exposed melanoma after those of BRAF and NRAS, changes Pro29 to serine (RAC1(P29S)) in the highly conserved switch I domain.