Melanoma

Fast Facts | Key Research | More Resources

 

Melanoma: Fast Facts

• Melanoma starts in melanocytes, the cells that give skin its color. Malignant melanoma usually begins with an abnormal mole but can also start in other pigmented tissues, such as the eyes or intestines.
• Melanoma ranks as the deadliest form of skin cancer, although it is also the least common. Men are at a higher risk for melanoma than women.

Read more about melanoma prevention, symptoms and treatment options at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. »

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Melanoma: Some of Our Key Research

Supercharging the body's cancer-fighting powers

• A team led by Dr. Cassian Yee reported that for the first time, a melanoma patient's own cloned infection-fighting cells apparently succeeded in wiping out his life-threatening tumors without added aid from chemotherapy or radiation.

Some two years after the 52-year-old Oregon man received an infusion of 5 billion copies of his own CD4+ T-cells, a type of white blood cell that attacks a specific or foreign protein associated with his cancer, he continued to be melanoma-free.

Because Yee's findings represented only one patient, he plans to do broader studies in hopes of confirming the findings. If the technique—known as adoptive T-cell therapy—shows promise in a larger set of patients, Yee predicts this therapy could be used for the 25 percent of all late-stage melanoma patients who share the same key immune-system traits as the successful test patient. Learn more about Yee's melanoma-therapy study. »

• Our researchers recorded other significant advances in immunotherapy for melanoma patients before Yee's latest findings. In 2002, Yee's lab reported a halt or reduction in growth of melanoma tumors after injecting patients with laboratory-grown copies of different type of T-cell, called CD8+, and a chemical called IL-2 that causes T-cells to replicate. Learn more about Yee's earlier melanoma study. »

• Drs. Veronika Groh and Thomas Spies, along with Yee and other collaborators, have also opened the door to new treatment possibilities for melanoma, along with other diseases, such as breast and ovarian cancers. In the laboratory, they have discovered a method for coaxing an important component of the body's immune system to attack cancer cells. Learn more about Groh's and Spies' work. »

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Melanoma: More Resources

• Every advance in cancer treatment in recent years has come out of clinical trials that test innovative medical approaches on patients. Find out more about clinical trials on melanoma. »

• The Hutchinson Center also conducts ongoing cancer-prevention studies that depend on participation of healthy volunteers. Learn more about getting involved in research studies. » 

• In need of medical attention for melanoma? Visit the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to get help. »

• The Hutchinson Center is on a mission to eliminate cancer and related diseases as causes of human suffering and death, and you can help. Make a gift today. »

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