Scientists know that melanoma has a genetic component – mutations have been found in up to 40% of families with a high rate of melanoma. If you have a first-degree relative with melanoma, you are 2-3 times more likely to develop the disease. And the more relatives you have with melanoma, the risk rate increases drastically. There are several genes… Read more »
Immunotherapy has been featured a lot on this blog because of the potential to dramatically improve the survival rates of cancer patients, including those struck by melanoma. Obviously, I’m not the only one excited about the progress made in this field. This year’s Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to two immunology researchers – Dr. James Allison of the MD… Read more »
When I wrote my previous blog post about checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy, I didn’t realize that Phase 2 of the clinical trials were being released later on that day. Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (here in the Lone Star State) performed clinical trial checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy in 94 patients with melanoma that had spread to the… Read more »
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 »
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 »