Hard times for oncogenic BRAF-expressing melanoma cells

Abstract

In this issue of Cancer Cell, Arozarena et al. describe that the oncogenic BRAF Val600Glu mutant, which occurs in about half of melanomas, downregulates the cGMP-hydrolysing phosphodiesterase PDE5A in melanoma cells through the ERK-MAPK cascade coupled to the POU-domain transcription factor BRN2, thereby increasing intracellular cGMP levels and promoting invasiveness.