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Showing 301 - 350Study Finds Most Patients With Melanoma Had Few Total Nevi and No Atypical Nevi
Although nevi are considered among the strongest risk factors for melanoma, most patients with melanoma had few total and no atypical nevi, according to a study of 566 patients with invasive cutaneous melanoma. “Three notable findings emerged from this case study,” Alan C. Geller, MPH, ...
Improved Melanoma-Specific Survival Reported With Wider Excision Margin in High-Risk Primary Melanoma
Wider excision margins in high-risk primary cutaneous melanoma were associated with improved melanoma-specific survival, according to long-term follow-up in a UK-led trial reported by Hayes et al in The Lancet Oncology. No significant improvement in overall survival was observed. The initial report ...
Melanoma-Specific Survival Significantly Higher With Wider Excision Margins
Among patients with high-risk, primary cutaneous melanomas, the risk of death from melanoma at a median follow-up of 8.8 years was significantly higher among those randomized to surgery with a 1-cm excision margin than among those randomized to surgery with a 3-cm excision margin. Although overall...
Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, on Immunotherapy and Melanoma
Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, discusses the advances in immunotherapy generally and for melanoma in particular.
Mario E. Lacouture, MD, on Management of Dermatologic Toxicities Associated With Targeted Therapies
Mario E. Lacouture, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the effect on patients of dermatologic toxicities associated with targeted therapies: their psychosocial impact, financial burden, physiological pain, and potential to alter therapy. But the side effects of targeted...
John A. Thompson, MD, on Treatment Options for Advanced Melanoma
John A. Thompson, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses the latest immunotherapeutics for advanced melanoma, including pembrolizumab, trametinib, nivolumab, and dabrafenib.
Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, and Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, on Results From the Checkmate 067 Trial on Nivolumab, Ipilimumab, and Advanced Melanoma
Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discuss therapies for treatment-naive patients with advanced melanoma (Abstract LBA1).
Claus Garbe, MD, and Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, on The DECOG Trial on Sentinel Lymph Node–Positive Melanoma
Claus Garbe, MD, of the University of Tuebingen, and Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, discuss the survival of sentinel lymph node-positive melanoma patients with and without complete lymph node dissection (Abstract LBA9002).
Andrew James Martin, PhD, and Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, on Oral Nicotinamide to Reduce Nonmelanoma Skin Cancers
Andrew James Martin, PhD, of NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, and Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, discuss a form of vitamin B3 that reduced the incidence of new nonmelanoma skin cancers in high-risk patients (Abstract 9000).
Andrew James Martin, PhD, on Oral Nicotinamide for Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer
Andrew James Martin, PhD, of NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, discusses a form of vitamin B3 that reduced the incidence of new nonmelanoma skin cancers in high-risk patients (Abstract 9000).
Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, Summarizes Results From the CheckMate 067 Trial in Advanced Melanoma
Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center discusses therapies for treatment-naive patients with advanced melanoma (Abstract LBA1).
Claus Garbe, MD, Summarizes Results of the DECOG Trial on SLNB-Positive Melanoma
Claus Garbe, MD, of the University of Tuebingen, discusses the survival of sentinel lymph node biopsy–positive melanoma patients with and without complete lymph node dissection (Abstract LBA9002).
Shailender Bhatia, MD, on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Final Results of a Phase II Study
Shailender Bhatia, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, discusses his paper on interleukin-12 DNA and regression of Merkel cell tumors (Abstract 504).
Catherine C. Park, MD, on Novel Clinical Paradigms
Catherine C. Park, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, summarizes results from three clinical trials of radiation therapy for various cancers: metastatic melanoma, oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, and breast cancer (Abstracts 215, 3, and LBA7).
Nivolumab Plus Ipilimumab Receives Expanded FDA Approval in Unresectable or Metastatic Melanoma Across BRAF Status
Bristol-Myers Squibb announced on January 23 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved nivolumab (Opdivo) in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 wild-type and BRAF V600 mutation–positive unresectable or metastatic...
Inherited Genetic Markers May Predict Melanoma Survival and Help Plot Course of Disease
At NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, researchers have discovered an inherited genetic marker that might provide clinicians with a personalized tool to gauge an individual’s survival and determine which patients require closer monitoring in the years...
Pregnancy-Associated Melanoma Is Linked With Higher Death Rates
Melanoma is on the rise in women of childbearing age. Those at the greatest risk, according to new Cleveland Clinic research, are women younger than 50 who are pregnant or have recently been pregnant. After adjusting for age, tumor location, and stage, researchers from Cleveland Clinic's...
Blood Test That Monitors ctDNA Better Than the Standard in Tracking Metastatic Melanoma
Physicians treating patients with metastatic melanoma may soon have a superior tool in their efforts to closely track the disease. A new study shows that a blood test that monitors blood levels of DNA fragments from dead cancer cells does a better job than the current standard test at tracking the...
Ocular Melanoma Research Fellowship Opportunity Announced
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Ocular Melanoma Foundation (OMF) are pleased to announce a new partnership to provide a grant opportunity for researchers focused on ocular melanoma, which is diagnosed in approximately 2,000 adults in the United States each year....
May Is National Skin Cancer Awareness Month
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, more than 3.5 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed each year, with the incidences of skin cancer outnumbering all cases of breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancers combined. Of the three most common types of skin cancer—basal cell carcinoma, squamous...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Past Grant Recipients Present Research Advances in Melanoma and Ovarian Cancer at 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting
The Conquer Cancer Foundation has an excellent track record of finding and funding the most promising young investigators. Past recipients Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, and Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, received funding from the Conquer Cancer Foundation early in their career and at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting...
FDA Expands Pembrolizumab Label to Include Approval in Initial Treatment of Unresectable or Metastatic Melanoma
On December 18, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the pembrolizumab (Keytruda) label to include approval of the drug for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. This expansion now includes the initial treatment of patients with unresectable or...
Characterization of Pathogenic Mutations in Melanoma Progression
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Shain et al identified the order of occurrence of mutations in the progression of melanoma as well as characterized point mutation burden and chromosomal instability during disease evolution. Study Details The study involved sequencing...
Australian Single-Center Experience With Cutaneous Toxicity From Use of BRAF Inhibitor Alone or With MEK Inhibitor in Metastatic Melanoma
In a retrospective single-center cohort study reported in JAMA Dermatology, Carlos et al identified the cutaneous toxicities associated with the use of the BRAF inhibitors dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and vemurafenib (Zelboraf) alone or dabrafenib combined with the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist)....
FDA Approves Single-Agent Nivolumab for Previously Untreated BRAF Wild-Type Advanced Melanoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) as a single agent for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 wild-type unresectable or metastatic melanoma. Clinical Trial Results The approval is based on data...
Kidney Failure and Its Treatment May Impact Cancer Risk
For patients with kidney failure, poor kidney function and immunosuppressant medications may increase their risk of developing different types of cancer. The findings, which are published by Yanik et al in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, suggest the need for persistent cancer...
Increased Risk of Second Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Among Patients Receiving Immunosuppressive Therapy
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with methotrexate had an increased risk of a second nonmelanoma skin cancer, and adding anti–tumor necrosis factor (TNF) may increase that risk, according to results of a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Dermatology. A similar association...
FDA Approves Cobimetinib in Combination With Vemurafenib for Advanced Melanoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cobimetinib (Cotellic) to be used in combination with vemurafenib (Zelboraf) to treat metastatic or unresectable melanoma, with the BRAF V600E or V600K mutation. “As we continue to advance our knowledge of tumor biology, we have...
No Difference in Overall Survival, Poorer Relapse-Free Survival With Adjuvant Intermittent vs High-Dose Interferon Alfa-2b in Stage III Melanoma
The final analysis of a European Dermatologic Cooperative Oncology Group phase III trial, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Mohr et al, showed that adjuvant intermittent vs standard high-dose intravenous interferon alfa-2b was associated with no difference in overall survival but...
FDA Approves Adjuvant Ipilimumab to Reduce the Risk of Melanoma Returning After Surgery
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded the approved use of ipilimumab (Yervoy) to include a new use as adjuvant therapy for patients who have cutaneous melanoma with pathologic involvement of regional lymph nodes of more than 1 mm and have undergone complete resection, including total...
Newly Discovered Tumor-Suppressor Gene Affects Melanoma Survival
Of the hundreds of genes that can be mutated in a single case of melanoma, only a handful may be true drivers of cancer. A new study published by Arafeh et al in Nature Genetics, a Weizmann Institute of Science team has revealed one of the drivers of a particularly deadly subset of melanomas that...
FDA Approves Talimogene Laherparepvec for Unresectable Recurrent Melanoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the biologics license application for talimogene laherparepvec (Imlygic), a genetically modified oncolytic viral therapy indicated for the local treatment of unresectable cutaneous, subcutaneous and nodal lesions in patients with melanoma...
ASTRO 2015: Subset of Patients With Metastatic Melanoma Achieves Clinical Benefit From Combination of Immunotherapy and Radiation Therapy
Immunotherapy combined with palliative radiation therapy for a subset of patients with metastatic melanoma reduces the growth and spread of the cancer, according to research presented by Hiniker et al (Abstract 215) on October 20, 2015 at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s...
More Than 11 Moles on the Arm May Indicate Higher Risk of Melanoma
Researchers at King's College London have investigated a new method that could be used by general practitioners to quickly determine the number of moles on the entire body by counting the number found on a smaller “proxy” body area, such as an arm. These findings were published by...
Antioxidants May Increase the Rate of Metastasis, Protect Existing Tumors in Malignant Melanoma
Fresh research at Sahlgrenska Academy has found that antioxidants can double the rate of melanoma metastasis in mice. The results reinforce previous findings that antioxidants hasten the progression of lung cancer. According to Martin Bergö, PhD, people with cancer or an elevated risk of...
Evidence of Basal to Squamous Cell Phenotype Switch Under Vismodegib Treatment for Basal Cell Carcinoma
In a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine, Ransohoff et al describe genetic evidence of phenotype switching from basal cell to squamous cell carcinoma in a patient receiving vismodegib (Erivedge) for basal cell carcinoma. Hedgehog signaling pathway activation, a central feature of...
Surgical Resection Prolongs Survival for Patients Whose Melanoma Has Spread to the Abdomen
Surgical removal of melanoma that has metastasized to the abdomen appears to help patients live more than twice as long as those who receive only medical therapy, according to study results presented at the 2015 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. In more than 1,600 patients...
ECC 2015: Combination of Dabrafenib and Trametinib Superior to Vemurafenib Alone in Advanced Melanoma: Results of the COMBI-v Trial
The latest results from a trial of a combination of two targeted therapies (dabrafenib [Tafinlar] and trametinib [Mekinist]) to treat advanced melanoma have shown that patients are living significantly longer on the combined therapy than patients treated with vemurafenib (Zelboraf) alone. Caroline...
FDA Grants Accelerated Approval to Nivolumab in Combination With Ipilimumab in BRAF V600 Wild-Type, Unresectable, or Metastatic Melanoma
On September 30, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to nivolumab (Opdivo) in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 wild-type, unresectable, or metastatic melanoma. The FDA is scheduled to make a decision on ...
Unprecedented Number of Mutations Identified in Rare Melanoma
A rare form of skin cancer known as desmoplasmic melanoma may possess the highest burden of gene mutations of any cancer, suggesting that immunotherapy may be a promising approach for treatment, according to an international team led by University of California San Francisco (UCSF) scientists. One...
Antifungal Agent Increases Risk of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Some Lung Transplant Recipients
Voriconazole, commonly used to prevent and treat fungal infections in lung transplant recipients, significantly increases the risk for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in this population, according to a new study by University of California San Francisco researchers. The team recommends physicians ...
Phase III Trial Shows No Benefit of Adjuvant GM-CSF or Peptide Vaccine in High-Risk, Resected Melanoma
In a phase III trial (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-American College of Radiology Imaging Network Cancer Research Group E4697 trial) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lawson et al found no relapse-free or overall survival benefit with adjuvant yeast-derived granulocyte-macrophage...
New Genetic Mutation Leading to Protein Repression Identified in Melanoma Cancer Cells
There is strong evidence that the protein complex APC/C may function as a tumor suppressor in multiple cancers including lymphoma, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and now, melanoma. A new study has revealed that a genetic mutation leading to repression of a specific protein, Cdh1, which interacts ...
Pembrolizumab Treatment May Cause Immune Cells to Express Markers of Reinvigoration
Treating patients with metastatic melanoma with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) caused immune cells called CD8-positive T cells in the patient’s blood to express markers of reinvigoration, according to data being presented at the CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer...
Frequency of Certain Immune Cells in Blood May Predict Response to Pembrolizumab in Metastatic Melanoma
Among patients with metastatic melanoma treated with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda), those whose cancer responded to the treatment had a higher frequency of T cells that were positive for the proteins CD8, PD-1, and Bim (CD8+PD-1+Bim+ T cells) in blood samples taken immediately...
Immune System–Boosting Agent May Reduce Early-Stage Melanoma Recurrences
Among patients with clinically stage I or stage II melanoma, those treated with the immune system–boosting agent CpG-B were less likely to experience recurrence of their disease than those who received placebo, according to results from two randomized, placebo-controlled phase II clinical...
BRAF V600 Mutation Appears to Be Targetable Oncogene in Some but Not All Nonmelanoma Cancers
In a phase II histology-independent basket study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Hyman et al found that the BRAF V600 kinase inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) exhibited activity in some but not all nonmelanoma cancers with BRAF V600 mutations. Study Details In the study, 122...
Patients With Fewer Than 50 Moles May Be at Risk for More Aggressive Melanoma
People with more than 50 moles have an increased risk of developing melanoma, but those with fewer than 50 moles should still be alert for this disease. In fact, according to new research presented at the American Academy of Dermatology’s 2015 Summer Academy Meeting in New York, those with...
Pembrolizumab Cutaneous Adverse Events May Predict Better Response
In a single-center retrospective review reported in JAMA Dermatology, Sanlorenzo et al found that cutaneous adverse events in patients receiving the anti–PD-1 agent pembrolizumab (Keytruda), currently approved for treatment of melanoma, may indicate better treatment response. Study Details...
Organ Transplant Recipients May Be More Likely to Develop Aggressive Melanoma
Organ transplant recipients are twice as likely to develop melanoma as people who do not undergo a transplant and three times more likely to die of the skin cancer, suggested new research by a multi-institutional team. The findings, reported by Robbins et al in the Journal of Investigative...
