Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Availability of data and materials
All data used in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable requests.
Competing interests
All The authors declare no conflict of interest with the exception of P.A.A. P.A.A. has advisory/consultant role for BMS, Roche-Genentech, MSD, Array, Novartis, Merck Serono, Pierre Fabre, Incyte, Genmab, Newlink Genetics, Medimmune, AstraZeneca, Syndax, Sun Pharma, Sanofi, Idera, Ultimovacs, Sandoz, Immunocore, 4SC, Alkermes, Italfarmaco. P.A.A. receives research funds from BMS, Roche-Genentech, Array and travel support from MSD. The funders of this study had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
Funding.
This work was supported by AIRC grant IG 15216 to G. Ciliberto; RM was supported by AIRC grant IG IG17009 and the Lazioinova grant 2018 n.85-2017-13750; LF was supported by AIRC/FIRC fellowship and was recipient of a fellowship granted by Istituto Pasteur Italia- Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti; CFR is a recipient of a fellowship by Intergruppo Melanoma Italiano (IMI).
Authors' contributions
LF, DM materially executed all the in vitro studies, i.e. melanoma cell cultures, protein extraction, western blotting, cell proliferation assays using RTIs and MAPKi. CM, SC and GS designed and synthesized the compound used in this study. GB, PAA, GS and RM reviewed and helped to conceive and to write the manuscript. GC conceived/coordinated the study and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledgments
We thank Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, Intergruppo Melanoma Italiano (IMI) and Istituto Pasteur Italia- Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti for the financial support to this work. The Sbardella laboratory has received funding from the Italian Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), Progetti di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale (PRIN 20152TE5PK), from the University of Salerno (FARB grant), and from Regione Campania (Italy) grant “Combattere la resistenza tumorale: piattaforma integrata multidisciplinare per un approccio tecnologico innovativo alle oncoterapie—CAMPANIA ONCOTERAPIE” (project no. B61G18000470007).
Authors’ information
LF is a researcher of Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS, "Fondazione G. Pascale", Naples, Italy; DM worked as PhD student in the laboratory of Prof. GC; CM and SC work in the group of Prof. GS; GS is a Professor in Department of Pharmacy, Epigenetic Med Chem Lab, University of Salerno, Fisciano, SA, Italy; GB is the Scientific Director of Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS, "Fondazione G. Pascale", Naples, Italy; PAA is the Director of Melanoma, Cancer Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapies Unit of Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS, "Fondazione G. Pascale", Naples, Italy; RM is a Professor in Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Roma “Sapienza”, Rome; GC is the Scientific Director of IRCCS, Istituto Nazionale Tumori “Regina Elena”, Rome, Italy.