Melanoma

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.

What are Melanomas?

The treatment of melanoma may involve surgery, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, or a combination of several treatment techniques. Each of these treatments is outlined below.

Melanoma Symptoms and Cause

How is Melanoma Diagnosed and Treated?

Melanoma Prognosis

Melanoma Epidemiology

Melanoma History

Melanoma Research

Choroidal Melanoma

Managing Choroidal Melanomas

Malignant Melanoma

Metastatic Melanoma

Latest Melanoma News and Research

Telomere shortening helps prevent cancer in humans

As time goes by, the tips of your chromosomes--called telomeres--become shorter. This process has long been viewed as an unwanted side-effect of aging, but a recent study shows it is in fact good for you.

1 Dec 2020

Study finds increasing incidence of cancer among adolescents and young adults

Cancer cases in adolescents and young adults have risen by 30% during the last four decades, with kidney cancer rising at the greatest rate, according to researchers at Penn State College of Medicine.

1 Dec 2020

Virus induced lymphocytes show promise for COVID-19 and future pandemics

Researchers in the United States have conducted a study demonstrating the potential of a novel therapeutic approach to treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The therapy augments the body’s T cell response to the causative agent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by providing a boost of rapidly expanded virus-specific T cells.

30 Nov 2020

Could beta-blockers be a potential treatment for COVID-19?

News-Medical spoke to researchers about their latest research into beta-blockers, and how they could potentially be used to treat COVID-19.

27 Nov 2020

Combining cell engineering with machine learning to design living medicines for cancer

Finding medicines that can kill cancer cells while leaving normal tissue unscathed is a Holy Grail of oncology research.

26 Nov 2020

The role of micro-RNA in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19

A team of researchers based in Iran have explored the role of micro-RNA in COVID-19. Their study titled, “The emerging role of microRNAs in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection,” was published in the latest issue of the journal International Immunopharmacology.

24 Nov 2020

Reprogramming T cells into highly active 'super immune cells' can improve immunotherapy benefits

Immune-system T cells have been reprogrammed into regenerative stem cell-like memory (TSCM) cells that are long-lived, highly active "super immune cells" with strong antitumor activity, according to new research from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

23 Nov 2020

Researchers discover new functions of key cellular machine in cancer

Utah scientists have discovered new functions of a key cellular machine that regulates gene packaging and is mutated in 20% of human cancers.

19 Nov 2020

Study provides new insight into the formation of neural crest cells

Last year, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, identified the early origins of neural crest cells -- embryonic cells in vertebrates that travel throughout the body and generate many cell types -- in chick embryos.

18 Nov 2020

Immunotherapies effective against lung cancer, melanoma may also work against rare skin tumor

Cutaneous angiosarcoma is a rare, highly aggressive skin tumor found primarily on the scalps of older White people, but based on new research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, immunotherapies effective against lung cancer and melanoma may also work against this cancer.

18 Nov 2020

Computational method could predict immunotherapy response in patients with advanced melanoma

A computational method that combines clinicodemographic variables with deep learning of pre-treatment histology images could predict response to immune checkpoint blockade among patients with advanced melanoma.

18 Nov 2020

Cannabidiol oils are equally or less effective at inhibiting certain cancer cell lines

Cannabidiol (CBD) oils are equally or less effective at inhibiting the growth of certain cancer cells compared to pure CBD, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

18 Nov 2020

UV light induces new types of DNA damage that may cause malignant melanoma

Studies conducted in yeast show that exposure to ultraviolet light (UV) induces new types of DNA damage that may cause the deadliest form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma.

17 Nov 2020

MD Anderson presents positive clinical data from combination cancer therapies at SITC 2020

Promising clinical results with combination treatments for patients with melanoma and lung cancer highlight immunotherapy advances being presented by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center at The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer 35th Anniversary Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs.

11 Nov 2020

A promising vaccine for treating poorly immunogenic tumors

Patients with cancer have multiple treatment options available to them today, but each has its drawbacks. Chemotherapy kills rapidly dividing cancer cells, but it also damages healthy cells in the body and often does not effectively prevent tumor metastasis or disease recurrence.

11 Nov 2020

Surgery studies show progress, opportunity to decrease opioid prescribing

Having surgery means placing complete trust in a team of professionals, and counting on them to fix what's wrong while keeping surgical risks as low as possible.

11 Nov 2020

Researchers propose a non-invasive, accurate method for melanoma detection

A team of researchers from Kaunas University of Technology and Lithuanian University of Health Sciences proposed a non-invasive method for detection of melanoma.

10 Nov 2020

A new method to improve the preclinical evaluation of CAR T cell therapies

Ludwig Cancer Research scientists have developed a method to significantly improve the preclinical evaluation of chimeric antigen-receptor (CAR) T cell therapies, in which the immune system's T cells are extracted from a patient, engineered to target a specific tumor-associated molecule and then grown and reinfused for cancer treatment.

6 Nov 2020

Older men are underdiagnosed and undertreated for osteoporosis

A new study reveals that many older men who experience a fracture are still underdiagnosed with and undertreated for osteoporosis.

6 Nov 2020

Researchers develop novel chemo-immunotherapy agent to treat pancreatic tumors

Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal: according to the National Cancer Institute, only about 10 percent of patients remain alive five years after diagnosis.

6 Nov 2020