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.

Malignant Melanoma

Melanoma Research

Melanoma Prognosis

Metastatic Melanoma

Managing Choroidal Melanomas

Melanoma Symptoms and Cause

How is Melanoma Diagnosed and Treated?

What are the Statistics of Melanoma?

Melanoma History

Choroidal Melanoma

Latest Melanoma News and Research

Common human fungus found to worsen melanoma aggressiveness

Cancer is one of the causes responsible for the most deaths worldwide; in 2020, for example, it resulted in ten million deaths. It has been estimated that micro-organism infections caused between 13-18% of these cases.

3 Feb 2026

Treating desmoplastic melanoma with immunotherapy before surgery can shrink or eliminate tumors

New results from a clinical trial co-led by UCLA investigators demonstrate how treating desmoplastic melanoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer, with immunotherapy before surgery can dramatically shrink or even eliminate tumors, sparing patients from more aggressive surgeries and preserving their quality of life.

29 Jan 2026

Poop pills could help cancer patients respond to immunotherapy while reducing toxic side effects

Fecal microbiota transplants (FMT), can dramatically improve cancer treatment, suggest two groundbreaking studies published in the prestigious Nature Medicine journal.

28 Jan 2026

Cancer vaccines enter a new era of personalized immunotherapy

A new comprehensive review from researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai details how decades of cancer vaccine research are converging into a new era of more precise, personalized, and effective immunotherapies, particularly when combined with other cancer treatments.

22 Jan 2026

Pre-surgical medication use grows for pancreatic, gynecologic, and abdominal lining cancers

The second annual report from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) documents a substantial rise in medication treatments, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and hormone therapy, used before surgery to treat many cancers, often allowing less invasive surgery and helping clinicians assess how a patient's cancer responds to medication to guide the most effective treatment options.

22 Jan 2026

UT Southwestern performs first regional whole-liver chemotherapy for rare eye cancer

A team at UT Southwestern Medical Center this week became the first in Texas and neighboring states to successfully perform a novel procedure to deliver whole-liver chemotherapy to treat metastatic uveal melanoma, a rare and deadly eye cancer.

21 Jan 2026

Cancer mortality drops 34% as treatments and early detection improve

The 2026 cancer statistics reveal improved survival rates but highlight persistent inequities in cancer incidence and mortality across different populations.

16 Jan 2026

Novel antibody shows promise in overcoming resistance to cancer immunotherapy

According to a Phase I study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, published today in Nature Medicine, the novel monoclonal antibody linavonkibart demonstrated the potential to overcome treatment resistance to anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors in multiple cancer types.

13 Jan 2026

Ultrasound-responsive nanocatchers enable precise in-situ tumor antigen capture

Professor Zhaohui Tang and Associate Professor Zhilin Liu from the team of Professor Xuesi Chen at the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, developed ultrasound-responsive in-situ antigen nanocatchers (S-nanocatchers), achieving precise spatiotemporal capture of tumor antigens and controllable acquisition of in-situ vaccines.

9 Jan 2026

Targeting IDO1 for cancer: Novel degraders show promise in preclinical studies

Cancer cells employ a variety of strategies to evade the immune system, and modern immunotherapies aim precisely at these escape mechanisms.

9 Jan 2026

Cornell-developed nanoparticles improve cancer immunotherapy effectiveness

A class of ultrasmall fluorescent core-shell silica nanoparticles developed at Cornell is showing an unexpected ability to rally the immune system against melanoma and dramatically improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy, according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Engineering researchers.

7 Jan 2026

Vitamin A derivative suppresses immune response and cancer vaccine efficacy

Scientists at the Princeton University Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have identified novel mechanisms by which a metabolic derivative of vitamin A-all-trans retinoic acid-compromises both the body's normal anti-cancer immune response and, in a different context, the efficacy of a promising type of cancer vaccine.

5 Jan 2026

Inhalable nanotherapy can activate the immune system against checkpoint-resistant melanoma

Immune checkpoint molecules play a crucial role in keeping the immune system in balance and preventing an attack on the body's own cells.

5 Jan 2026

New therapeutic approach converts immune cells inside tumors into anticancer cell therapies

Within tumors in the human body, there are immune cells (macrophages) capable of fighting cancer, but they have been unable to perform their roles properly due to suppression by the tumor.

2 Jan 2026

New open-source tool maps gene regulation networks in cancer

University of Navarra (Spain) researchers have developed RNACOREX, a new open-source software capable of identifying gene regulation networks with applications in cancer survival analysis.

19 Dec 2025

Study identifies TAK1 gene as a key brake on cancer immunotherapy

Australian researchers have discovered that the TAK1 gene helps cancer cells survive attack from the immune system, revealing a mechanism that may limit the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments.

19 Dec 2025

Novel mRNA therapy rejuvenates immune function in aging mice

Can the weakened immune systems of older individuals be rejuvenated? Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the HI-STEM institute, and the Broad Institute have demonstrated that this is possible with an innovative approach.

17 Dec 2025

Frog-derived bacteria offer dual-action anticancer effects and high safety

A research team of Prof. Eijiro Miyako at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) has discovered that the bacterium Ewingella americana, isolated from the intestines of Japanese tree frogs (Dryophytes japonicus), possesses remarkably potent anticancer activity. This groundbreaking research has been published in the international journal Gut Microbes.

16 Dec 2025

Indoor tanning loads normal skin with mutations linked to melanoma

Indoor tanning is associated with markedly higher mutation burdens and cancer-driving genetic changes in melanocytes taken from normal-appearing skin, including areas usually protected from sunlight. These molecular alterations provide a biological explanation for the higher odds of melanoma and multiple primary tumors seen in heavy tanning bed users.

15 Dec 2025

Young tanning bed users show accelerated genetic aging in the skin

Tanning bed users are known to have a higher risk of skin cancer, but for the first time researchers have found that young indoor tanners undergo genetic changes that can lead to more mutations in their skin cells than people twice their age.

12 Dec 2025