Melanoma News and Research

Latest Melanoma News and Research

Bioelectric signals can identify cells that are likely to develop into tumors

Biologists at Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences have discovered a bioelectric signal that can identify cells that are likely to develop into tumors. The researchers also found that they could lower the incidence of cancerous cells by manipulating the electrical charge across cells' membranes.

1 Feb 2013

Teva terminates collaboration with CureTech

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced today the termination of its collaboration with CureTech Ltd.

31 Jan 2013

HIV-positive patients have higher incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers

HIV-positive patients have a higher incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers, according to a Kaiser Permanente study that appears in the current online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Specifically, basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas occur more than twice as often among HIV-positive individuals compared to those who are HIV-negative.

30 Jan 2013

Red coloration might represent some physiological benefit: Research

Red coloration-historically seen as costly in vertebrates-might represent some physiological benefit after all, according to research published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.

29 Jan 2013

Cancer risk independent of folic acid supplementation

Folic acid supplementation does not increase or decrease the risk for cancer, suggests research published in The Lancet.

28 Jan 2013

Telomerase gene mutation immortalizes deadly skin cancer

About ten percent of all cases of malignant melanoma are familial cases. The genome of affected families tells scientists a lot about how the disease develops. Prof. Dr. Rajiv Kumar of the German Cancer Research Center together with Prof. Dr. Dirk Schadendorf from Essen University Hospital studied a family where 14 family members were affected by malignant melanoma.

28 Jan 2013

Researchers identify cancer-associated mutations

Two new mutations that collectively occur in 71 percent of malignant melanoma tumors have been discovered in what scientists call the "dark matter" of the cancer genome, where cancer-related mutations haven't been previously found.

25 Jan 2013

Data from Provectus' PV-10 pre-clinical study on melanoma to be presented at AACR meeting

Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development-stage oncology and dermatology biopharmaceutical company, announces that data on PV-10 will be presented in a poster presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

23 Jan 2013

STA announces results from ABRAXANE plus gemcitabine phase III trial on pancreatic cancer

Australian biopharmaceutical company Specialised Therapeutics Australia announces that a phase III clinical trial of world leading breast cancer drug ABRAXANE (nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel) in combination with current standard of care gemcitabine in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer has demonstrated substantially improved survival times, with double the number of patients surviving two years.

23 Jan 2013

Incidence of melanoma continues to rise in both men and women: ACS

The American Cancer Society's 2013 Cancer Statistics report found that the incidence of melanoma continues to rise in both men and women. This is particularly concerning because skin cancer can often be easily prevented and detected.

19 Jan 2013

Report: Cancer death rates decline 20% from its peak in 1991

As of 2009, the overall death rate for cancer in the United States had declined 20 percent from its peak in 1991, translating to the avoidance of approximately 1.2 million deaths from cancer, 152,900 of these in 2009 alone. These figures come from the American Cancer Society's annual Cancer Statistics report, one of the most widely-cited medical publications in the world.

17 Jan 2013

SF3B1 gene mutations in uveal melanoma linked to favorable features

Melanomas that develop in the eye often are fatal. Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have identified a mutated gene in melanoma tumors of the eye that appears to predict a good outcome.

17 Jan 2013

Iris nevi have ‘low’ malignant potential

The malignant transformation rate for iris nevi is 8% over 15 years, a case series by US researchers has found.

15 Jan 2013

Aggressive surveillance questionable for eye melanoma recurrence

Patients treated for primary choroidal or ciliary body melanoma may not always benefit from an aggressive surveillance strategy for the detection of metastatic disease, caution US researchers.

14 Jan 2013

Intermittent therapy may be answer to treating drug-resistant melanoma

Findings from a study carried out in mice suggest that an intermittent dosing strategy may be the answer to combating lethal tumor resistance to the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib, in patients with late-stage BRAF-mutated melanoma.

14 Jan 2013

Melanomas that develop resistance to vemurafenib also become addicted to the drug

Researchers in California and Switzerland have discovered that melanomas that develop resistance to the anti-cancer drug vemurafenib (marketed as Zelboraf), also develop addiction to the drug, an observation that may have important implications for the lives of patients with late-stage disease.

11 Jan 2013

Moffitt Cancer Center initiates PV-10 Phase 1 study in melanoma

Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development-stage oncology and dermatology biopharmaceutical company, reports that the Moffitt Cancer Center has initiated a Phase 1 study to investigate potential immune biomarkers in both tumor tissue and peripheral blood after intralesional PV-10 injection of melanoma tumors.

9 Jan 2013

Overall cancer death rates continue to decline in the U.S.: Report

The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2009, shows that overall cancer death rates continued to decline in the United States among both men and women, among all major racial and ethnic groups, and for all of the most common cancer sites, including lung, colon and rectum, female breast, and prostate.

9 Jan 2013

FDA approves use of iCAD's PowerLook AMP with Philips MicroDose Digital Mammography System

iCAD, Inc., an industry-leading provider of advanced image analysis, workflow solutions and radiation therapy for the early identification and treatment of cancer, today announced approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use of the company's next generation mammography computer-aided detection platform, PowerLook Advanced Mammography Platform, with Digital CAD for Philips' MicroDose Full-Field Digital Mammography System.

8 Jan 2013

Local conjunctival metastases ‘may be under-recognized’

Local conjunctival metastases may represent under-recognized lesions arising from the dissemination of primary conjunctival melanoma via local vessels, suggest findings published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

4 Jan 2013