Melanoma & Skin Cancer News Round Up: 09/01/2015

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

• New skin cancer drug set for clinical trials

Lab tests suggest panRAF inhibitor may be effective in melanoma patients no longer responding to existing treatments.

Source: The Guardian 

• IBM applies cognitive computing to skin cancer diagnosis 

IBM is researching the application of cognitive computing to analyse dermatological images of skin lesions with the goal of assisting clinicians in the identification of various cancerous disease states. 

Source: Electronics Weekly 

• New skin cancer drugs show promise in lab tests

"New skin cancer drug set for clinical trials," The Guardian reports. In fact, two new compounds designed to treat malignant melanoma are due for trials after promising results in laboratory research.

Source: NHS 

• Skin cancer: Painkillers linked to reduced risk

Regularly taking aspirin and ibuprofen may help protect against some forms of skin cancer, research suggests.

Source: BBC 

• Cambridge skin cancer device turns up the heat

A clip-on skin cancer device that tells users when they have had enough sun has been developed by UK design hothouse Cambridge Consultants and was being unveiled at CES in Las Vegas today.

Source: Business Weekly 

• Iconic Father Ted actor to undergo treatment for skin cancer

Frank Kelly will undergo treatment for cancer again, it has been revealed.

The Father Jack actor, who previously beat bowel cancer, will have a simple procedure done to remove two small skin cancers.

Source: Mirror 

• Bin man loses ear to skin cancer after 38 years of working in the sun

SKIN cancer victim Clive Birch has had his left ear removed – after spending decades working outside as a bin man.

Source: Stoke Sentinel  

• Chance visit to health marquee during festival led to skin cancer treatment for Ann

An eagle-eyed doctor manning a health marquee at Bedford’s River Festival spotted the early signs of skin cancer on one visitor.


Source: Bedford Today 

• MEK/BRAF Inhibitor Combo Reduces Death by One-Third in Melanoma 

Patients with previously untreated BRAF V600E or V600K metastatic melanoma had a significant improvement in overall survival when treated with a combination of a BRAF inhibitor and a MEK inhibitor compared with treatment with a BRAF inhibitor alone, according to the results of a study published in the January 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. 

Source: Cancer Network 

• Combo therapy may help fight melanoma

Melanoma is the most lethal form of skin cancer, with high mortality rates. While new drugs have been approved to treat the disease, patients nearly always develop resistance to the therapies and the cancer advances.

This is especially relevant for patients with a mutation in the BRAF gene who generally have a robust, but temporary, response to BRAF inhibitor therapies. Researchers have been trying to identify therapies that can be combined to improve patient response.

Source: Health Canal 

• FDA approves Opdivo for advanced melanoma (USA)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today granted accelerated approval to Opdivo (nivolumab), a new treatment for patients with unresectable (cannot be removed by surgery) or metastatic (advanced) melanoma who no longer respond to other drugs.

Source: FDA 

• Ipilimumab demonstrates long-term survival benefit in advanced melanoma

Some patients with advanced melanoma treated with ipilimumab continued to derive a survival benefit at least 5 years after treatment, according to study results.

Source: Healio 

• Year in Review: Progress in Melanoma

Role of immune checkpoint inhibitors, other targeted agents topped the news about melanoma.

Source: Med Page Today 

• Deep Fascia Excision No Help With Cutaneous Melanoma

Excision of the deep fascia does not improve the outcome of patients with cutaneous melanomas thicker than 2 millimeters, according to a study published in the December issue of the British Journal of Dermatology.

Source: Physician News 

• Australian firefighters had higher melanoma, prostate cancer risk than public (AUS)

Firefighters in Australia were found to have an increased risk of melanoma and prostate cancer compared with the general public, according to the results of a recently published study.

Source: Healio 

Melanoma & Skin Cancer News Round Up: 12/12/2014

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

• Experimental drugs aim to tackle melanoma 'escape route'

Manchester researchers are developing a new generation of targeted melanoma drugs that could bypass treatment resistance seen with current therapies.

Source: CR UK

• Ocular Melanoma: Are You Aware of This Eye Cancer? (US)

I never even knew ocular melanoma existed. I was aware of skin cancer, but never knew that people could get cancer in their eyes. The fact is that not many people do. Ocular melanoma is a very rare cancer, with only about six in 1 million people diagnosed per year.

Source: Huffington Post 

• Study finds melanoma and prostate cancer a risk for firefighters (AUS)

Firefighters are at greater risk of developing some cancers, compared to the Australian public, a study has found.

Source: Medical Xpress 

• Choroidal Melanoma in Children: Be Aware of Risks

The authors describe a case of choroidal melanoma in a 13-year-old girl treated with plaque brachytherapy.

Source: Healio 

Tragedy as man, 24, dies just eight months after doctors diagnosed skin cancer in mole triggered by Turkish holiday

A man who developed skin cancer after getting sunburnt in Turkey has died - just 18 months after returning from his holiday. 

Source: Daily Mail 

• New targeted drugs could treat drug-resistant skin cancer

A brand new family of cancer drugs designed to block several key cancer-causing proteins at once could potentially treat incurable skin cancers, a major new study reports.

Source: Eurekalert 

• Science & Society: Sunlight, sunbeds and skin cancer (US)

One American dies every hour from melanoma, the most common of the skin cancers. And a major tragedy is it is largely preventable.

But “everyone knows” it’s due to exposure to sunlight, so why devote a column to it at the beginning of winter? I assure you, there are reasons.

Source: Herald Extra 

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

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

• Brits too willing to risk their lives by ignoring potential cancer symptoms

People are putting their lives at risk by dismissing the warning signs of cancer, experts have warned.

A new study by Cancer Research UK found that more than half of British people have experienced at least one "red flag cancer alarm" symptom – such as a persistent cough or an unexplained lump – but only two per cent thought cancer was a possible cause.

Source: Independent 

• Creating body art! Dannii Minogue shows off her leopard painted figure mid process ahead of her campaign to raise awareness for skin cancer prevention

Spots can be dangerous: Dannii Minogue goes wild as she covers herself in leopard-print body paint to support skin cancer awareness

Source: Daily Mail 

• Natural Selection Favors Pale Skin Even Though Cancer Risk Is Higher

When humans migrated out of Africa some 100,000 years ago, the pigmentation in their skin gradually adapted to cooler climates resulting in the paler skin of people who now live in higher latitudes. But natural selection is furthering this adaptive process despite an increased risk of skin cancer. Scientists in Spain have been finding out why.

Source: Red Orbit 

• Advanced Melanoma: Treatments for Stages III and IV

Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. In stages I and II, melanoma may be effectively treated with surgical removal of the lesions.

Source: Empowher 

• More Skin, More Sun, More Tan, More Melanoma

Although personal melanoma risk factors are well established, the contribution of socioeconomic factors, including clothing styles, social norms, medical paradigms, perceptions of tanned skin, economic trends, and travel patterns, to melanoma incidence has not been fully explored. We analyzed artwork, advertisements, fashion trends, and data regarding leisure-time activities to estimate historical changes in UV skin exposure. 

Source: Medscape 

• Ipilimumab in Uveal Melanoma: Long-Lasting Responses in 25%

The first trial of the immunomodulator ipilimumab (Yervoy, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company) conducted in patients with malignant uveal melanoma has shown efficacy in some patients.

Source: Medscape 

• SLNB did not improve survival in head and neck melanoma

Patients with head and neck melanoma who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy derived no disease-specific survival benefit compared with patients who did not undergo the procedure, according to study results.

Source: Healio 

Melanoma & Skin Cancer News Round Up: 28/11/2014

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

• Rare condition forces three-year-old Eddison to be 'boy in the bubble'

The family of a three-year-old boy diagnosed with an incurable condition which makes him 10,000 times more likely to develop skin cancer have reached out to other families coping with the disorder.

Source: STV 

• How selenium in broccoli may fight melanoma

The mineral selenium, which naturally occurs in foods like broccoli and garlic, appears to slow down a process that allows cancers such as melanoma, prostate cancer, and leukemia to spread.


Source: Futurity 

• US Skin Cancer Costs Top $8 Billion Annually (USA)

Each year in the United States, nearly 5 million people are treated for skin cancer, at a cost of $8.1 billion dollars. The costs associated with skin cancer treatment are not only rising, but they are increasing substantially more than for other cancers.

Source: Medical Research 

• UCLA study paves the way to more effective melanoma treatment

Last September, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab, which was found to be affective against melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. Sadly, not all melanoma patients benefit from the treatment and UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center investigators have determined a method that will predict which patients will respond to the drug. Their research should lead to more effective treatment of melanoma patients. The findings of the two year study were published online on November 26 in the journal Nature.

Source: Examiner 

Melanoma & Skin Cancer News Round Up: 21/11/2014

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

• GPs urged to double cancer referrals in NHS guidelines

Patients who visit GPs with persistent tiredness should be fast-tracked for cancer tests within 48 hours, according to new NHS advice warning that delays in diagnosis could be costing thousands of lives.

Source: nflnr 

• Blue-Eyed People May Face Higher Melanoma Risk

New research suggests that genes tied to blue eyes and red hair could put people at higher risk for moles or freckling in childhood, which are often precursors to the deadly skin cancer melanoma later in life.

Source: WebMD

• Survival in Melanoma Ups Further: 'We Have Cure in Our Sights'

"Can we now cure an incurable disease in some of our patients with metastatic melanoma?" This was the questioned posed here at the end of the Society for Melanoma Research International Congress 2014 meeting.

Source: MedScape 

• Skin cancer risks: Outdoor work contributes to high melanoma death rate for men over 45 (Australia)

Twice as many Victorian men over 45 die from melanoma than women of the same age, according to new figures from the Cancer Council of Victoria.

Source: ABC 

• Slip, slop slack to blame for high rate of melanoma in men (Australia)

TWICE as many men are dying of melanoma than Victorian women, with lax sunscreen habits, reluctance to see a doctor and excessive sun exposure being blamed.

Source: Herald Sun 

• Skin cancer: how effective are smartphone apps for early detection? (United States)

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the US, accounting for almost half of all cancers. But if it is detected early - before it has spread to other parts of the body - it is almost always curable. There are now an array of smartphone applications available claiming to aid early detection of skin cancer. But how effective are they?

Source: Medical News Today 

• Cost of treating skin cancer is skyrocketing (United States)

Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States and in the past few years has become a growing public health problem. Not only is the number of skin cancer cases growing, the cost of treating the diseaseis surging.

Source: Consumer Affairs 

Melanoma & Skin Cancer News Round Up: 14/11/2014

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

• Two Bristol-Myers Squibb drugs approved by Scottish Medicines Consortium

Yervoy (ipilimumab), has been accepted for use in adult patient in Scotland with previously-untreated advanced melanoma. Data has shown ipilimumab has the potential to improve the overall survival of some patients with unreselectable or metastatic melanoma, whether they have received prior therapy or not.

Source: The Pharma Letter 

• Thin melanomas cause greater number of deaths

More people are dying from melanomas thinner than a dime than from the thicker cancerous skin lesions long thought to be more dangerous, according to a new study from Queensland, Australia.

Source: Reuters 

• Melanoma Risk Genetic Testing May Help With Prevention

Positive genetic risk information about melanoma may help to prompt people to discuss melanoma risk with a wider variety of family members, according to a study published in JAMA that examined the effects of hypothetical genetic testing. Interestingly, even people who received negative genetic testing results were still affected by the results.

Source: Cancer Network 

• MelaFind: Spotting Melanoma Without a Biopsy

More than 76-thousand Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma this year. If it’s not caught early, this type of skin cancer can be deadly. Doctors used to rely on biopsies to make a diagnosis, but now there’s a much less painful way. Spotting melanoma is easier than ever.

Source: Ksat 

• Next-Gen Melanoma Drug Excels in Lab Tests

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published online in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics reports anti-cancer activity in 10 out of 11 patient tumor samples grown in mice and treated with the experimental drug TAK-733, a small molecule inhibitor of MEK1/2. While the drug is conceived as a second-generation inhibitor in patients harboring the BRAF mutation, the study shows drug activity in melanoma models regardless of BRAF mutation status. Treated tumors shrunk up to 100%.

Source: DDD Mag 

• High tech treatment of that "skin" cancer, Melanoma

A blog from Donna Jeanne for Chicago Now. Donna is a Stage IV Melanoma patient who's goal is to teach others about the dangers of melanoma and the best protection.

Source: Chicago Now 

• This App Can Detect Skin Cancer In 7 Out Of 10 Cases: Here's How It Works

Treating melanoma in the UK costs more than £100 million every year, but the skin cancer can be treated easily and at less cost if detected in advance. An app developed by a team from Romania's University of Bucharest, called SkinVision, provides a new weapon against the disease, with an ability to detect melanoma with an accuracy of 73% using only a picture.

Source: UK Business Insider 

• Richie Benaud: Cricket commentator receiving radiation treatment for skin cancer

Cricket commentator Richie Benaud has revealed that he’s receiving radiation therapy to treat skin cancer just a year after he suffered serious injuries following a car crash.

Source: Independent 

• Skin Cancer Costs Soar Compared to Other Malignancies: CDC

The cost of skin cancer treatment in the United States more than doubled between 2002 and 2011, and rose five times faster than treatments for other cancers, a new study found.

Source: Consumer Healthday 

Melanoma & Skin Cancer News Round Up: 07/11/2014

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

• Melanoma Survival Better With Immune Booster

Patients with metastatic melanoma who were treated with ipilimumab, an immune checkpoint blocker, survived 50% longer – a median 17.5 months vs. 12.7 months – if they simultaneously received an immune stimulant, according to a study led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists.

Source: DDD Mag 

• University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute to open Melanoma Tissue Bank

From autism to prostate cancer, researchers rely on specialized banks of donated human tissue to explore how diseases attack the body and what might stop them.

Source: Trib Live  

• Nine weeks of biochemotherapy effective for high-risk melanoma

A 9-week course of multiagent biochemotherapy markedly improved relapse-free survival in patients with high-risk melanoma, compared with the 1-year course of high-dose interferon that has been the unchallenged standard of care for this disease for decades, according to a report published online Oct. 27 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Source: Oncology Practice 

• Uveal Melanoma Successfully Treated with Lower Doses of Radiation

Rare as it is, uveal melanoma–or cancer in the eye involving the iris, cilliary body, or choroid–is the most common primary cancer of the eye, according to the National Cancer Institute. Treatment of uveal melanoma is achieved with radiation therapy, although a variety of regimens and techniques have been applied successfully. A new retrospective study performed by researchers at Duke University, “Uveal Melanoma Treated with Iodine-125 Episcleral Plaque: An Analysis of Dose on Disease Control and Visual Outcomes,” identified 69 Gy of radiation applied at the tumor apex to be sufficient to control tumor growth and enhance distant metastasis-free survival.

Source: Radiation Therapy News 

• New study finds school uniform alterations could reduce risk of skin cancer in school children

A new study has found that lowering the hemlines on school uniforms could reduce the risk of skin cancer.

The research, which comes from James Cook University in Queensland, found that increasing the average uniform covering to the knees and elbows could increase sun protection by over 9 per cent.

Source: Daily Mail 

• New Pain Free Technology Detects Skin Cancer

Now, there's an easier, pain-free way to check suspicious moles, called MelaFind. 

"It really helps us decide which lesions need to be biopsied," said Dr. Philip Bailin, a dermatologist at Cleveland Clinic.

The test takes less than a minute. The scanner transmits 10 different wavelengths of light into the skin and takes an image of the patient's mole. That image is compared to others in a database of more than 10,000 lesions.

Source: ABC 7