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.

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.

From University of Pittsburgh 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.

From University of Pittsburgh 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.

From New York University (NYU) 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.

11 Feb 2021

Fecal microbiota transplant helps cancer patients respond to immunotherapy

For patients with cancers that do not respond to immunotherapy drugs, adjusting the composition of microorganisms in the intestines--known as the gut microbiome--through the use of a stool, or fecal, transplants may help some of these individuals respond to the immunotherapy drugs, a new study suggests.

From National Cancer Institute (NCI) 5 Feb 2021

Breast cancer-on-a-chip for rapid screening of immunotherapeutic drugs

There are many mechanisms by which the body responds to foreign invaders. One of these involves the T-cells of the immune system, which have a number of different proteins on their surface called "checkpoint proteins."

3 Feb 2021

Targeting glycoprotein could improve response to immune checkpoint therapy

It was an unexpected discovery that started with an analysis of more than 1,000 genes. The question: why game-changing cancer immunotherapy treatments work for only a fraction of patients.

29 Jan 2021

Genetic changes in tumors could help predict patient's response to immunotherapy drugs

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, the UCL Cancer Institute, and the Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence have identified genetic changes in tumours which could be used to predict if immunotherapy drugs would be effective in individual patients.

28 Jan 2021

Unique proteomics-based technology can help diagnose breast cancer more accurately

Breast cancer could be identified more precisely than existing methods using blood specimens and exclusive proteomics-based technology.

28 Jan 2021

Functions of gamma delta T cells are regulated by sugars and fat Gene, shows study

The team led by Bruno Silva Santos, Principal Investigator and Deputy Director of the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM) and Professor at the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, discovered that the functions of a subtype of white blood cells - gamma delta T cells - are regulated by metabolic resources, namely sugars and fat.

20 Jan 2021

Researchers identify a vital protein needed to regulate anti-tumor immune response

Scientists from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified a protein known as NF-kappa B-inducing kinase (NIK).

5 Jan 2021

Research sheds new light on immune system interactions with cancer

Cancers like melanoma are hard to treat, not least because they have a varied bag of tricks for defeating or evading treatments.

22 Dec 2020

New combination therapy could be effective in treating aggressive cancers with common mutations

Scientists have long known that therapies that target the cancer-driving MAPK pathway are only effective in a handful of cancers with specific mutations in a cancer gene called BRAF, and these cancers that initially respond to the therapy often end up developing resistance to the treatment, resulting in relapse for many patients.

15 Dec 2020

Study reveals new target to make breast cancer more sensitive to immunotherapy

Although immunotherapy has been effective in treating different kinds of cancer, it is still unsuccessful when it comes to treating breast cancers.

11 Dec 2020

Obesity allows cancer cells to outcompete tumor-killing immune cells, study finds

Obesity has been linked to increased risk for over a dozen different types of cancer, as well as worse prognosis and survival.

From Harvard Medical School 10 Dec 2020