Skin Cancer (Melanoma)

• 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.

Eradicating melanoma – 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 chemotherapy or radiation treatment. 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. If the technique—known as adoptive T-cell therapy, or immunotherapy—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 »

Halting or reducing melanoma tumors – 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 »

Attacking cancer cells – A team of researchers has 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 »