Melanoma Cells News and Research

RSS

Combinatory therapy may be effective in suppressing drug resistance in treatment of melanoma

Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), the charitable initiative supporting ground-breaking research aimed at getting new cancer treatments to patients in an accelerated timeframe, announces that the Allan H. (Bud) and Sue Selig Stand Up To Cancer Melanoma Innovative Research Grant Recipient Roger S. Lo, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has published two studies in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research which indicate that treatment using combinatory therapy may be effective in suppressing drug resistance in the treatment of melanoma.

21 Nov 2013

Research: New drugs show ability to rapidly shrink melanoma tumors

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, killing more than 8,000 in the U.S. each year. Approximately 40 percent of advanced melanoma tumors are driven to grow by the presence of mutations in a gene known as the BRAF gene.

21 Nov 2013

Study shows that geranylgeraniol suppresses viability of human DU145 prostate carcinoma cells

Researchers at Texas Woman's University have shown that a diterpene geranylgeraniol found in linseed oil, Cedrela toona wood oil, sucupira branca fruit oil and more recently, annatto seed oil, suppressed the viability of human DU145 prostate carcinoma cells via cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase and the initiation of apoptosis.

14 Nov 2013

Functional biomarker could help guide treatment of patients with BRAF-mutant melanomas

A functional biomarker that can predict whether BRAF-mutant melanomas respond to drugs targeting BRAF could help guide the treatment of patients with these cancers, according to results presented here at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, held Oct. 19 - 23.

23 Oct 2013

Wnt5A signaling pathway helps researchers determine who may respond to BRAF inhibitors

One of the challenges of understanding cancer is trying to determine the mechanisms that drive metastasis, or the process by which tumor cells are able to spread throughout the body.

19 Oct 2013

Resveratrol can make tumor cells more susceptible to radiation treatment

A recent study by a University of Missouri researcher shows that resveratrol, a compound found in grape skins and red wine, can make certain tumor cells more susceptible to radiation treatment. This research, which studied melanoma cells, follows a previous MU study that found similar results in the treatment of prostate cancer.

12 Oct 2013

Research finding offers new approach to treating melanoma

Scientists at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute today announced the discovery that a gene encoding an enzyme, phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1, plays an essential role in the development and progression of melanoma. The finding offers a new approach to treating this life-threatening disease.

17 Sep 2013

Using the immune system to control cancer: an interview with Dr. Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, Ludwig Center at MSKCC

Cancer immunotherapy aims to recruit a patient’s immune system to recognize cancer as foreign and dangerous and to remove it from the body, as it would an infection.

1 Aug 2013

Patients with melanoma brain metastases can be treated with large doses of interleukin-2

In a retrospective study, Saint Louis University researchers have found that patients with melanoma brain metastases can be treated with large doses of interleukin-2 (HD IL-2), a therapy that triggers the body's own immune system to destroy the cancer cells.

31 Jul 2013

Researchers test modified dendritic cells in patients with melanoma

In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Scott Pruitt at Duke University and Merck Research Laboratories report on a human clinical trial in which modified dendritic cells, a component of the immune system, were tested in patients with melanoma.

25 Jun 2013

Researchers report therapeutic strategy that appears to destroy drug-resistant melanomas

An advanced tumor is a complex ecosystem. Though derived from a single cell, it evolves as it grows until it contains several subspecies of cells that vary dramatically in their genetic traits and behaviors.

21 Jun 2013

Non-invasive odor analysis: A valuable technique for early diagnosis of melanoma

According to new research from the Monell Center and collaborating institutions, odors from human skin cells can be used to identify melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. In addition to detecting a unique odor signature associated with melanoma cells, the researchers also demonstrated that a nanotechnology-based sensor could reliably differentiate melanoma cells from normal skin cells.

14 Jun 2013

Tumor suppressor p53 inactivation and restoration: an interview with Dr. Xin Lu, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

Before we talk about p53, it is important to understand why cancer cells are a problem for the body. Cancer cells multiply recklessly, refuse to die and blithely metastasize to set up shop in places where they don’t belong.

12 Jun 2013

Studies demonstrate that combined therapy could destroy drug-resistant cells within melanoma tumor

Advanced metastatic melanoma is a disease that has proven difficult to eradicate. Despite the success of melanoma-targeting drugs, tumors inevitably become drug resistant and return, more aggressive than before. In the current issue of the journal Cancer Cell, however, researchers at The Wistar Institute describe how they increase the effectiveness of anti-melanoma drugs by combining anticancer therapies with diabetes drugs.

12 Jun 2013

Scientists develop first dual-action drug against melanoma skin cancer cells

Scientists are reporting development and successful lab tests on the first potential drug to pack a lethal one-two punch against melanoma skin cancer cells. Hit number one destroys cells in the main tumor, and the second hit blocks the spread of the cancer to other sites in the body, according to their report in the journal ACS Chemical Biology.

6 Jun 2013

Isaiah J. Fidler earns 2013 American Cancer Society Medal of Honor for Basic Research

When Isaiah J. Fidler, D.V.M., Ph.D., left his veterinary surgical practice to pursue a doctorate that would allow him to study and combat the lethal spread of cancer to other organs, he got lots of advice. The common message: Don't go there.

30 May 2013

Tafinlar, Mekinist get FDA approval to treat patients with advanced melanoma

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved two new drugs, Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekinist (trametinib), for patients with advanced (metastatic) or unresectable (cannot be removed by surgery) melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer.

30 May 2013

Study shows PDH enzyme plays a major role in regulation of oncogene-induced cellular senescence

An article published on the journal Nature describes the major role that Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) —an enzyme of cellular energy metabolism— plays in the regulation of the cellular senescence induced by the oncogene BRAF, which usually appears mutated in melanoma and other cancers.

22 May 2013

Mechanism of tumor suppressor p53 inactivation described

Cancer cells are a problem for the body because they multiply recklessly, refuse to die and blithely metastasize to set up shop in places where they don’t belong. One protein that keeps healthy cells from behaving this way is a tumor suppressor named p53. This protein stops potentially precancerous cells from dividing and induces suicide in those that are damaged beyond repair. Not surprisingly, p53’s critical function is disrupted in most cancers.

25 Apr 2013

Vesicular stomatitis virus spares non-cancerous cells and kills melanoma cells

Researchers from Yale University School of Medicine have demonstrated that vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is highly competent at finding, infecting, and killing human melanoma cells, both in vitro and in animal models, while having little propensity to infect non-cancerous cells.