melanoma

Hope as a Guiding Mantra One of my friends, a retired oncology nurse in Scotland, where I live, has become a source of hope for my family and me, and her words have become a mantra: hope is constant. Prior…

In oncology, some milestones arrive with applause. Others arrive quietly. This year, one of the most important cancer drugs of the modern era begins to lose its monopoly. Nivolumab, one of the first PD-1 inhibitors to reach patients, is set…

When the first signals of modern immunotherapy began to emerge a little over a decade ago, many of us realised that oncology was about to change forever. I still remember the sense of astonishment when we saw the first durable…

Could artificial sweeteners undo the benefits of immunotherapy? A study published in Cancer Discovery, July 30, found that melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who consume high levels of the artificial sweetener sucralose have worse responses to immunotherapy…

Patients with melanoma related brain metastases achieve reduced risk of progression and better overall survival if they receive radiotherapy before immunotherapy as opposed to the other way round. The meta-analysis study, abstract RADT-04, presented at the Society of Neuro Oncology…

“Did you remember to bring the sunscreen?” Public awareness of the need to protect against the risk of melanoma from excessive exposure to UV rays from the sun has risen dramatically over recent decades. ‘Bringing the sunscreen’ is now a…

Immunotherapy is increasingly being initiated in the month prior to death in patients with stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer, melanoma, and renal cell carcinoma. The US study, published in JAMA Oncology, online January 4, showed the practice was more common…

Dichloroacetate, a drug targeting the metabolism, helped alleviate cancer related fatigue in mouse models of melanoma and colon cancer, reports a study published in the American Journal of Physiology Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2 October. “This study tackles the long-understudied conundrum of…

In advanced melanoma, adding a personalised mRNA-based vaccine to the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab improved recurrence-free survival compared with pembrolizumab alone. The KEYNOTE-942 study (presentation number CT001), presented at the AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) Annual Meeting 2023, held…

Harmful gut bacteria may play a greater role than beneficial bacteria in determining efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade in melanoma patients. The study, published in Nature Medicine (28 February), found microbial signatures containing Lachnospiraceae species were connected to favourable anti-programmed…