Melanoma and Skin Cancer News Round Up: 25/09/2014

MASScot does not endorse nor is affiliated with any of the content contained within these links.

• Study: Telomere length impacts melanoma risk

Researchers with Dartmouth College have found that genes controlling telomere length of telomeres influence the risk of melanoma.

Source: Dermatology Times

• GSK melanoma pill backed by UK cost watchdog with price cut

Britain's healthcare cost agency NICE has recommended a third new drug for melanoma, this time from GlaxoSmithKline, after the drugmaker offered to supply it at a discount to the state-run National Health Service.

Source: Reuters

• New melanoma treatment approved by NICE

Dabrafenib will be the second melanoma drug targeting the BRAF V600 mutation to be available on the NHS after NICE approved vemurafenib in December 2012.

Source: Pharmaceutical Journal 

• 'A single mole caused cancer to spread through my body - now I only have months to live': Horror of man, 24, whose holiday sunburn led to life-threatening disease

A man has been given just months to live after learning a mole he developed while on holiday was in fact a rare form of cancer that has spread through his inner organs.

Source: Daily Mail

• Melanoma Could Be Caused By Ageing Genes; Best Diet For Anti-Ageing; Celebrities Who Have Aged Gracefully

A recent study by an international team of researchers found that ageing genes could play a role in melanoma, a type of skin cancer. It was found that genes that have the ability to control the length of telomeres, the caps at the end of the chromosomes, could be related to melanoma susceptability.

Source: ibtimes

• I thought I could beat anything. Then my doctor said: 'You have skin cancer': Bestselling author relives the most harrowing moment of her life

Bestselling author of Second Chance relives her most harrowing moment. Jane Green knew there was a risk as skin cancer ran in the family. She tells of the agonising wait to find out if the disease had spread.

Source: Daily Mail 

• Melanoma Institute’s groundbreaking cancer treatment gives Craig Lawn new lease on life

THERE is a high chance Craig Lawn would not be alive today if not for a world-first drugs trial which is revolutionising treatment for melanoma. In November last year, Mr Lawn was given six months to live after being diagnosed with inoperable, stage four melanoma.

Source: Daily Telegraph AU

• Skin cancer drug should be available on NHS, officials say

A new drug for skin cancer patients should be made widely available on the NHS, health officials have said.

Dabrafenib can have a "rapid positive effect" on patients with a certain type of melanoma, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said.

Source: The Guardian

• Removing your tattoo 'can give you skin cancer'... and is almost as dangerous as tanning beds  

Removing your tattoo increases the risk of skin cancer and is as dangerous as lying on a tanning bed, according to an expert. Dr Ian McDougall, based on the Gold Coast Queensland, believes not enough information is given to patients who undergo the procedure and said the industry should be better regulated. 

Source: Daily Mail 

• Calming down immune cells could hold key to melanoma treatment

Cancer Research UK scientists at The University of Manchester found that chemical signals produced by a type of immune cell, called macrophages, also act as a survival signal for melanoma cells.

Source: Cancer Research UK 

Melanoma and Skin Cancer News Round Up: 12/09/2014

MASScot does not endorse nor is affiliated with any of the content within these links.

• Study links genetic mutation and melanoma progression

Dartmouth researchers have found that the genetic mutation BRAFV600E, frequently found in metastatic melanoma, not only secretes a protein that promotes the growth of melanoma tumour cells, but can also modify the network of normal cells around the tumour to support the disease's progression. 

Source: Medical Xpress

• UNM creates new melanoma therapy

A promising new method to diagnose and treat melanoma is a step closer to market following a licensing agreement between an Albuquerque start-up and the University of New Mexico.

Source: ABQ Journal

• Skin cancer risks higher for soldiers serving abroad

A retrospective study of about 200 US military veterans has uncovered alarming statistics on soldiers deployed oversees being more at risk of developing melanoma and skin cancer.

Source: Vanderbilt

• Skipton firm licensed to help skin cancer detection rates

Early diagnosis and detection rates of skin cancer have been boosted by a pioneering digital application developed by academics.The Dermofit app which has been developed in the UK trains the medical profession to accurately identify malignant and benign skin lesion and skin growths at an earlier stage.

Source: Yorkshire Post

Melanoma and Skin Cancer News Round Up: 08/09/2014

MASScot does not endorse nor is affiliated with any of the content within these links.

• Skin cancer cases double in 30 years but survival rates also rise

The BBC reports on new research from the Alan Lyell Centre for Dermatology in Glasgow which shows that skin cancer rates have doubled in the last 30 years but survival rates have also risen.

Source: BBC

• High-Risk Melanomas Often on Head or Neck, Study Finds

A look at a study published online (Aug. 20) in JAMA Dermatology by a research team led by Dr. Sarah Shen who investigated mitotic rates of melanomas in more than 1,400 patients. The article contains a number of comments on the study from well respected Dermatologists in the US.

Source: Philly

• Moles can quadruple risk of developing melanoma

A joint study by the University of Melbourne, University of Oxford and Epworth Healthcare states that having moles on your skin can quadruple your risk of developing melanoma. The research compared two groups of people 271,656 for whom moles had been recorded duringa  hospital visit for any condition - and 10,130,417 who did not have moles recorded. 

Source: Medical Xpress

• New techniques help curb advanced melanoma

A Canadian article exploring some of the modern methods of treatment for advanced melanoma.

Source: CBC

• Melanoma Is Not the Only Skin Cancer to Worry About

Researchers from Dundee University and Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands presented their findings at the World Congress on Cancers of the Skin in Edinburgh last week. The study calculated that an average sunbed user, who tans for 12 minutes every eight days between the ages of 20 and 35 is 90% more likely to develop skin cancer by their 50s.

Source: Skin Inc

• New Melanomas Likely to Recur at Same Rate

A diagnosis of in situ or invasive melanoma conferred a similar long-term risk of invasive melanoma recurrence, a 40-year retrospective review showed.

Source: Med Page Today 

• US approves new immunotherapy drug against melanoma

A new drug by Merck pharmaceuticals called Keytruda that uses the body's immune system to fight metastatic melanoma was approved Thursday by US regulators.

Source: Yahoo 

• Sun visors for pilots as research shows high rates of skin cancer

Pilots could start wearing sunglasses or sun visors in the cockpit as a matter of course after new research pinpointed their exposure to sunlight as the likely cause of high rates of skin cancer.

Source: The Guardian

• Cancer warning: UK facing a 'tsunami of skin cancer'

Dermatologist Dr Walayat Hussain told BBC Breakfast that the UK was facing "a tsunami of skin cancer" as experts say cheap foreign holidays and the fashion for having tanned skin are probably to blame for the increase.

Source: BBC 

• I can't stop using sunbeds, even after getting skin cancer: Tan obsessed twin says she can't break the habit despite both her and her sister having health scares

A young woman who says she's addicted to sunbeds admits even getting skin cancer hasn't put her off tanning.

Lucy Simm, 29, from Morecambe, was keen to get back on a sunbed as soon as she had recovered from an operation to remove a cancerous mole on her leg. The woman told her story on ITV's This Morning along with her twin sister who has also been diagnosed with skin cancer.

Source: Daily Mail