Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the U.S. It occurs in more than a million people each year, including many older people. There are three main types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. Of the three, melanoma is the most serious. Skin cancer occurs when abnormal cells form and multiply in an uncontrolled way in the epidermis, or abnormal cells from the epidermis invade the dermis of the skin. Basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma are skin cancers that are named for the epidermal cells from which they develop.

What is Skin Cancer?

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer among light skinned individuals. It is the commonest cancer in the United States and in Australia. Each year, about one million people are diagnosed with this cancer. In 85 percent of these cases, the skin damage leading to the cancer occurs before an individual is 18.

Skin Cancer Classification

Skin Cancer Causes

Skin Cancer Diagnosis

Skin Cancer Prevention

Skin Cancer Management

Skin Cancer Pathology

Skin Cancer Symptoms

Hair Follicle Tumors

Rare Skin Cancers

Does Aspirin Increase Your Risk of Skin Cancer?

Latest Skin Cancer News and Research

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

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

Repurposing an anxiety drug to increase the efficacy of therapies for metastatic melanoma

There are times when adding something new to the mix makes it better. Give Popeye some spinach, and you've got a fighting machine. Give Mario a mushroom, and he becomes invincible. Without drinking a potion, Alice in Wonderland would never fit through the door.

5 Nov 2020

Study shows active surveillance to be safe for African American men with low-risk prostate cancer

Previous studies have shown that African American men are 2.4 times as likely to die from prostate cancer compared to non-Hispanic white men.

3 Nov 2020

Two studies find age as a primary factor in melanoma treatment resistance

Age may cause identical cancer cells with the same mutations to behave differently. In animal and laboratory models of melanoma cells, age was a primary factor in treatment response.

2 Nov 2020

Urbanization leads to a huge decrease in skin bacterial diversity

Urbanization leads to a vast decrease in bacterial diversity and an increase in chemical diversity on the skin, a keynote lecture on the skin microbiome will reveal today at the 29th EADV Congress, EADV Virtual.

2 Nov 2020

Moffitt researchers find immune-oncologic differences in prostate tumors of African American men

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer among American men after skin cancer, but the disease does not affect all races equally.

21 Oct 2020

Study findings may help identify new targets to inhibit spread of melanoma

Research led by Queen Mary University of London has revealed novel insights into the mechanisms employed by melanoma cells to form tumors at secondary sites around the body.

20 Oct 2020

Patients with soft-tissue cancer show rapid and complete response to novel combination of immunotherapy

A patient with end-stage and rapidly progressing soft-tissue cancer whose tumor did not respond to standard treatment, had a "rapid and complete response" to a novel combination of immunotherapy, according to new research published by a team of scientists from John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center and the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, both of whom are part of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Consortium.

16 Oct 2020

Novel findings on mole growth could pave way for skin cancer treatments

Moles stop growing when they reach a certain size due to normal interactions between cells, despite having cancer-associated gene mutations, says a new study published today in eLife.

13 Oct 2020

Ludwig study uncovers a nutritional approach to improve cancer immunotherapy

A Ludwig Cancer Research study has uncovered a mechanism by which the tumor's harsh internal environment sabotages T lymphocytes, leading cellular agents of the anticancer immune response.

5 Oct 2020

UCLA researchers receive $13 million NIH grant to combat melanoma

UCLA researchers have received a $13 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to find new ways to overcome melanoma resistance to some of the most promising targeted therapies and immunotherapies.

28 Sep 2020

Study shows effectiveness of UV-C light for killing COVID-19 on N95 respirators

Dermatology researchers at Henry Ford Health System, in collaboration with a team at the University of Michigan, have demonstrated that certain N95 respirators tainted with COVID-19 can be effectively and safely decontaminated for reuse using ultraviolet-C light (UV-C), a method commonly utilized for treating rare skin diseases.

22 Sep 2020