Category Archives: Cancer News

News about cancer, skin cancer or otherwise

Microneedles and Immunotherapy

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In my ongoing quest to provide to you, my readers, interesting news about skin cancer treatments, I found a very recent article that describes efforts by researchers to develop a patch of microneedles that would deliver immunotherapy nanoparticles directly into melanoma lesions. In a previous series of posts, I wrote about an article that discusses how immunotherapy might be a… Read more »

Pulled muscle? No, melanoma

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I just came across a heart-breaking story of a young English newlywed who thought she had beaten melanoma, only to find out that what she thought was a pulled muscle was actually her cancer returned – and spreading. I’ll be honest, this type of story always makes me a bit nervous. Yes, I know that once you catch and remove… Read more »

Skin Cancer More Deadly For Pregnant Women

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A sobering report from the Cleveland Clinic has found that melanoma is five times more deadly for women who are pregnant or had given birth within the year. “We saw significant, worse prognoses and outcomes for women with a pregnancy-associated melanoma, compared to a control group of non-pregnant women,” stated primary author and plastic surgeon Brian Gastman. Obviously, the female human… Read more »

Using the Immune System to Fight Melanoma (Part Two – Potential)

My previous post talked about the history of using the immune T-cells in the fight against cancer. I’m picking up the thread of the story where the human experiments began… A small pharmaceutical company approached by researcher Jim Allison, Medarex, decided to begin human trials using patients diagnosed with malignant melanoma. Melanoma sometimes responds to immunotherapy treatment. The first experiments… Read more »

Using the Immune System to Fight Melanoma (Part One – Background)

Disclaimer: I’m a science nerd. I love the compilations like the Best American Science and Nature Writing. I got the 2013 edition out of the library and there was an article, originally published in The New Yorker, entitled The T-Cell Army. The article discussed the history of Dr. William Coley, a surgeon in 1890s New York City who lost a… Read more »

Skin Cancer Can Strike at Any Age

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I just read a story about an 8-year-old in Michigan who was diagnosed with Stage 3 melanoma. I cannot imagine how scary that must be for the parents. Although not common – less than 2 percent, skin cancer can strike young children. It’s important for parents to keep an eye out, looking for any changes in their children’s skin. The… Read more »

Smartphone Apps No Match for Identifying Amelanotic Melanoma

It’s not recent, but a 2012 research study concluded that smartphone apps that are supposed to help people with identifying suspicious moles and growths actually are unreliable. In turn, people delay getting treatment for something. And as we all know, particularly with melanoma, delays are not a good thing. The study, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a… Read more »

Doctor’s Advice to Avoid Cancer – Moldy Oldy

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There was a recent article on Prevention.com about a doctor’s advice to avoid cancer. The usual suspects were there: avoid stress (could someone explain how in modern society we can avoid stress? Maybe we can mitigate it but there’s really no way to completely avoid it…); exercise regularly; and volunteering. But one of the items concerned mold, specifically the types… Read more »

So Are Antioxidants Helpful or Not?

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Antioxidants have been promoted as being wonder substances, capable of fighting aging, cancer, and all kinds of other harmful things. But a new report from the researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center suggests the opposite – antioxidants may promote the growth of cancer – in mice. The researchers transplanted melanoma cells treated with antioxidants or nothing to… Read more »

9 Months Since the Excision

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Excision scar

A few days ago, I celebrated a milestone of sorts. It’s been nine months since the excision. I’m in San Francisco for work and have been doing quite a bit of walking this past week. The scar still aches at times, and if I’m going uphill, it can be somewhat sharp. And when I get off the elliptical, it seems… Read more »