Category: malignant melanoma
Berlin, Germany: Researchers have made significant advances in the treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma -- one of the most difficult cancers to treat successfully once it has started to spread -- according to a study to be presented at Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 -- ESMO 34 [1], in Berlin on Thursday.
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Every tumor, starting from a size of a few millimeters, depends on a supply of nutrients and oxygen. Therefore, using special growth factors, it induces vascular wall cells of neighboring blood vessels to sprout new capillaries in order to get connected to the blood circulation.
For patients with a particularly aggressive form of skin cancer – malignant melanoma – stress, including that which comes from simply hearing that diagnosis, might amplify the progression of their disease.
Researchers have manipulated a human antibody to induce an anti-tumor response in living mice that consistently curbs -- and often cures -- malignant melanoma, one of the most lethal forms of skin cancer and the most common cancer of young adults.
The Mayo Clinic researchers report three innovative discoveries that advance the emerging field of cancer immunotherapy. Cancer immunotherapy refers to scientist-controlled manipulations of the immune system to kill cancer cells without the toxic side effects of chemotherapy or radiation. These findings show that when administered intravenously, the human antibody can still induce immune response -- which suits it for potential therapeutic use as a drug for humans.
How well a patient's immune system reacts to his own cancer cells and the schedule by which the vaccine is given are two key factors in the success of a custom-made vaccine created from the cancer cells of patients with malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer and fastest growing cancer in the United States. Nearly one-half ? 44 percent ? of malignant melanoma patients enrolled in a clinical trial who received the vaccine following standard surgery lived at least five years ? no small achievement, considering that only about 20 percent live that long with surgery alone.
An all over tan is fashionable and large numbers of people, especially young women, achieve this by using sunbeds. Professor Antony Young, of King's College London, has reviewed the evidence that links sunbed use to malignant melanoma; a skin cancer that is fatal if not detected and treated early. Malignant melanoma is a cancer of the skin's cells that are responsible for tanning (melanocytes). Unlike most cancers, that tend to occur in late middle age, malignant melanoma can appear in younger people.
The options for treating advanced melanoma are limited - regardless of whether the patient is a dog or a human. Because this deadly cancer is virtually resistant to chemotherapy and radiation in its late stages, new approaches are being investigated including vaccines that harness the immune system. For nine dogs that naturally developed canine malignant melanoma, treatment with a new DNA-based vaccine more than tripled their median survival from an expected 90 days to an average of 389 days.
Scientists at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, California have found a panel of molecular markers that could signal which patients might have the best results following vaccination for malignant melanoma. According to a study published in the January 15, 2003 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the scientists showed that patient survival improved significantly if their tumors expressed higher levels for these markers, known as melanoma-associated antigens (MAAs).
Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have identified a signaling pathway that is turned on when benign moles turn into early-stage malignant melanoma. The pathway could provide a new target for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the most lethal form of skin cancer. The research was reported in the December issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
