Melanoma Research Victoria

Source: Medical Express, February 2019 Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and notorious for its resistance to conventional chemotherapy. Approximately 25 percent of melanoma is driven by oncogenic mutations in the NRAS gene, making it a very attractive therapeutic target. However, despite decades of research, no effective therapies targeting NRAS have been forthcoming. […]

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Source: Oncology Nurse Advisor, February 2019 According to results from a prospective, epidemiologic study of 3 cohorts from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS), a high cutaneous melanocytic nevi count was significantly associated with increased risk of melanoma death, with a stronger association observed in men compared with women. […]

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Source: ECancerNews, February 2019 Cancer immunotherapy is an approach that removes the barriers that protect cancer cells from a patient’s immune system and has revolutionised the treatment of many cancer types. About 40 percent of melanoma patients, for example, respond to immunotherapy, enabling the immune system’s T cells to attack cancer cells and take control […]

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Source: Cancer Therapy Advisor, February 2019 The striking success of checkpoint inhibition in the treatment of certain cancers has reinvigorated cancer research into therapeutic vaccines. Although, historically, lone vaccine treatments for cancer hold a modest track record, combining them with checkpoint inhibitors, which override a tumor’s ability to escape detection, may turn “hot cancers even hotter,” said […]

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