The data suggests that gossypin, a naturally occurring compound in fruits and vegetables, may be useful in the battle against melanoma thanks to its ability to block DNA mutations.
"We identified gossypin as a novel agent with dual inhibitory activity towards two common mutations that are the ideal targets for melanoma treatment," said Dr Hareesh Nair from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute.
"Our results indicate that gossypin may have great therapeutic potential as a dual inhibitor of mutations called BRAFV600E kinase and CDK4, which occur in the vast majority of melanoma patients," Nair added.
"They open a new avenue for the generation of a novel class of compounds for the treatment of melanoma."