Melanoma Cells News and Research

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The convergence of embryonic and cancer signaling pathways: role in tumor cell plasticity

In earlier work, Northwestern University scientist Mary J.C. Hendrix and colleagues discovered that aggressive melanoma cells (but not normal skin cells nor less aggressive melanoma cells) contain specific proteins similar to those found in embryonic stem cells.

30 Apr 2007

Studies highlight role of inflammation in cancer

Can reducing inflammation keep cancer at bay? Two novel studies presented at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research that examine use of common anti-inflammatory agents suggest this might be the case.

18 Apr 2007

New tumor antigen found with new cloning technique

In recent years, researchers have worked to develop a number of vaccines to help the immune system fight tumors.

16 Apr 2007

Nanoparticle boost for antitumor vaccines

Researchers have known for some time that certain sequences of synthetic DNA induce potent immune responses when injected into animals and humans.

12 Feb 2007

Rapid and label-free nanomechanical detection of biomarker transcripts in human RNA

Researchers from the Swiss Nanoscience Institute in Basel have developed a rapid method to detect the activity of a gene involved in controlling tumor growth.

18 Dec 2006

New cancer treatments use body's own immune system to kill melanoma tumours

Scientists are claiming that the body's own immune system could be used to fight the most serious form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma.

13 Nov 2006

New technique detects signature of metastasizing melanoma with as few as 10 cancer cells present in blood sample

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia can now detect the spread of skin cancer cells through the blood by literally listening to their sound.

16 Oct 2006

New method for attaching tumor-targeting antibodies to the surface of buckyballs

Hollow buckyballs, spherical molecules made of sixty carbon atoms linked to one another like the panels of a soccer ball, have the potential to ferry large doses of anticancer drugs or imaging agents to tumors.

5 Sep 2006

Scientists create tumour zapping T cells which knock out cancer

Scientists in the United States have genetically engineered normal immune cells to become specialized fighters and used them to attack cancerous tumours.

31 Aug 2006

Aggressive melanoma cells secrete Nodal - protein critical to embryo formation

A Northwestern University research group has discovered that aggressive melanoma cells secrete Nodal, a protein that is critical to proper embryo formation.

6 Aug 2006

Turning the immune system against cancer

Medicine can now prevent a host of diseases with a mere shot of vaccine. Polio and smallpox are almost non-existent, and mumps and chicken pox are rarely seen nowadays.

4 Aug 2006

Novel approach to creating a vaccine to treat melanoma

A novel approach to creating a vaccine to treat melanoma has demonstrated promising effectiveness in a new laboratory study led by researchers at The Wistar Institute. About a third of melanoma patients might benefit from such a vaccine.

4 Apr 2006

New way of targeting proteins to exosomes - potential for melanoma, Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered how a protein called Pmel17 is sorted by pigment cells in the skin and eye to make a fiber matrix that eventually sequesters melanin, the dark pigment found in skin, hair, and eyes.

28 Mar 2006

Scientists reprogramme malignant melanoma cells to become normal pigment cells

Scientists at Northwestern University and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have reprogrammed malignant melanoma cells to become normal melanocytes, or pigment cells, a development that may hold promise in treating of one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

1 Mar 2006

Researchers move in on novel therapeutics to inhibit melanoma

Northwestern University researchers have developed a novel, three-dimensional model that allows scientists to observe how interacting with the microenvironment of metastatic melanoma cells induces normal skin cells to become similar to aggressive cancer cells that migrate and spread throughout the body.

5 Dec 2005

Stem cell microenvironment reverses malignant melanoma

Northwestern University researchers have demonstrated how the microenvironments of two human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines (federally approved) induced metastatic melanoma cells to revert to a normal, skin cell-like type with the ability to form colonies similar to hESCs.

20 Nov 2005

Dendritic cells tricked into action against cancer

A new type of immunotherapy in which dendritic cells are tricked into action against cancer when they are exposed to harmless pieces of viruses and bacteria is described in the November issue of Cancer Research.

1 Nov 2005

Discovery of signaling mechanism may help prevent metastatic melanoma

Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered a key signaling mechanism that may promote the ability of highly aggressive malignant melanoma cells to metastasize, or spread from a primary tumor to distant sites within the body.

1 Nov 2005

A new, less toxic way to treat malignant melanoma

A new, less toxic way to treat malignant melanoma (skin cancer) is being developed by medicinal chemists at Reading University. They have produced a range of prodrugs: compounds that offer the potential to be converted to toxic molecules only within the vicinity of tumours. These prodrugs aim to reduce the toxicity of treatment.

26 Sep 2005

Researchers have uncovered a significant contributing factor to interferon resistance of malignant melanoma cells

The finding represents a step forward in understanding the molecular events that govern the growth of this type of cancer and the changes in gene expression and cellular signaling that underlie resistance to established therapies.

26 Sep 2005