One of the major challenges in cancer
therapy is to overcome drug resistance. Melanoma cells are an
illustrative example for this notion, as metastasized melanoma is
almost universally resistant against chemotherapy. The NF-κB
signaling pathway is constitutively active and plays a crucial role
for drug resistance in melanoma cells. This work starts from the
observation that doxorubicin leads to profound activation of NF-κB
in two different melanoma cell lines, while several other
chemotherapeutics with different modes of action did not activate
this pathway. Likewise, NF-κB dependent transcription of mediators,
which are thought to be involved in tumor progression, was
increased by doxorubicin. Notably, the strongest NF-κB activation
was detected at a concentration of 1
