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.
MRV Research
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
Next-Gen Melanoma Drug, TAK-733, Excels in Lab Tests
A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published online this week 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 percent.
OncoSec Medical Receives VBHRC Funding to Study Novel Gene Therapy Approach in Melanoma
OncoSec Medical Inc. , a company developing DNA-based intratumoral cancer immunotherapies, along with researchers at Old Dominion University (ODU) and Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), has received a $585,000 grant from the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation (VBHRC) to study a novel gene therapy approach for the treatment of malignant melanoma.