Melanoma News and Research

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Melanoma is a form of cancer that begins in melanocytes (cells that make the pigment melanin). It may begin in a mole (skin melanoma), but can also begin in other pigmented tissues, such as in the eye or in the intestines.

Cancer immunotherapy patients experience potentially life-threatening side effects

Many patients with cancer receive immune checkpoint inhibitors that strengthen their immune response against tumor cells. While the medications can be life-saving, they can also cause potentially life-threatening side effects in internal organs.

13 Apr 2021

Study finds an amyloid link between melanoma and Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder and melanoma is a type of skin cancer but on the surface, these disorders do not seem to have much in common.

8 Apr 2021

Customized tumor cell vaccine produces active immune response in melanoma, neuroblastoma models

A pre-clinical study for melanoma and neuroblastoma shows that a customized tumor cell vaccine technique that targets Myc oncogenes coupled with checkpoint therapy produces an active immune response that bypasses antigen selection and immune privilege.

5 Apr 2021

Scientists identify new biomarkers in the blood of patients with malignant melanoma

A team of researchers has studied the molecular profile of small “messenger” vesicles called exosomes, produced by cancer stem cells (CSCs), which play a key role in the process of carcinogenesis and metastasis in the blood of patients with malignant melanoma.

26 Mar 2021

Study shows how a subset of T cells is generated in melanoma survivors affected by vitiligo

A few patients suffering from melanoma are known to respond quite well to immunotherapy and experience significant and long-lasting tumor regression.

25 Mar 2021

Novel vaccine uses patient's own tumor cells to train the immune system to fight cancer

Immunotherapy, which recruits the body's own immune system to attack cancer, has given many cancer patients a new avenue to treat the disease.

25 Mar 2021

Bacteria residing within tumor cells may boost cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy may get a boost from an unexpected direction: bacteria residing within tumor cells. In a new study published in Nature, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and their collaborators have discovered that the immune system "sees" these bacteria and shown they can be harnessed to provoke an immune reaction against the tumor.

23 Mar 2021

Low representation of minority groups in genomic databases may impact therapy selection

Low representation of minority groups in public genomic databases may affect therapy selection for Black patients with cancer, according to new Mayo Clinic research published in npj Precision Oncology.

22 Mar 2021

Immune cells in cerebrospinal fluid could be biomarkers to predict immunotherapy response

Results from a study led by Joan Seoane, Director of Preclinical and Translational Research co-program at VHIO and ICREA Professor, show that immune cells accessing cerebrospinal fluid faithfully recapitulate the characteristics of cells identified in brain metastasis, and could therefore constitute novel biomarkers of response to immune-based therapies.

9 Mar 2021

Research provides new insight into the way cells adapt to fight infection

WEHI researchers have uncovered a process cells use to fight off infection and cancer that could pave the way for precision cancer immunotherapy treatment.

4 Mar 2021

New technique reveals the tricks that cancer cells use to avoid immunotherapies

By harnessing the immune system against cancer, immunotherapies have revolutionized the way some types of cancer are treated. But most patients--across cancer types--do not respond, and in most cases, scientists are at a loss as to why.

2 Mar 2021

Epigenetic therapy can boost the ability of immune killer T-cells to destroy cancer cells

Developing “super soldiers” of particular white blood cells to promote an anti-tumor reaction has been demonstrated in a series of well-designed experiments.

23 Feb 2021

New hydrogel shrinks tumors in melanoma mice model

Recently, messenger RNA, also called mRNA, vaccines, to combat the COVID-19 infection have made headlines worldwide, but researchers have already been experimenting with mRNA vaccines to prevent or cure other illnesses, including certain types of cancer.

18 Feb 2021

Gut microbiome alterations help melanoma patients to respond to immunotherapy

Statistical modeling developed by Oregon State University researchers has confirmed that changes to melanoma patients' gut microbiome led them to respond to a type of treatment capable of providing long-term benefit.

17 Feb 2021

Tumor microenvironment could improve cancer immunotherapy

A study has revealed how chemicals surrounding tumors, the tumor microenvironment, undermine the immune system and allow cancer to resist attack.

16 Feb 2021

New understanding of tumor microenvironment could help enhance immunotherapy

A paper published today in Nature shows how chemicals in the areas surrounding tumors--known as the tumor microenvironment--subvert the immune system and enable cancer to evade attack. These findings suggest that an existing drug could boost cancer immunotherapy.

16 Feb 2021

Gene-based blood test may predict treatment success in people with metastatic melanoma

A test that monitors blood levels of DNA fragments released by dying tumor cells may serve as an accurate early indicator of treatment success in people in late stages of one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer, a new study finds.

15 Feb 2021

Scientists use new approach to avert drug resistance in glioblastomas

In far too many cases over the years, scientists have discovered promising new cancer treatments, only to report later that the tumor cells found ways to become resistant. These disappointing results have made overcoming drug resistance a major goal in cancer research.

11 Feb 2021

Researchers program genome tool to target specific histone proteins

If finding a needle in a haystack is hard enough, then one should try finding a particular molecule on the needle.