Skin Cancer

A nano-vaccine is showing promising results in treating skin cancer in mouse models. The vaccine encases two new cancer drugs inside a nanoparticle, with initial experiments revealing it can stimulate the immune system to kill melanoma, and act as a preventative vaccine.

A team of scientists from Israel report compelling new insights into how the metastatic spread of melanoma is assisted by nearby fat cells. The research does not suggest obesity enhances the metastatic potential of skin cancers but it does point to new drugs that can stop the spread of melanoma.

A new study may have uncovered a previously unknown way to fight melanoma, one of the most deadly forms of skin cancer. A team led by researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine has identified a gene that, when disrupted with a drug compound, can prevent melanoma from developing.

Researchers at MIT have combined two experimental cancer drugs, protein kinase inhibitors and ribonuclease drugs, and found that they worked better together than alone. The discovery could help reduce side effects of cancer treatments and make them more effective.

Scorpions, rattlesnakes and funnel-web spiders have all provided scientists with promising building blocks for next-generation medicines, and a dangerous Australian arachnid has again reared its head with a compound in its venom found to be a potent killer of melanoma cells.

Skin cancer treatment often still requires chemotherapy, which is delivered intravenously and can cause a whole range of unpleasant side effects. Now, researchers have made the first steps towards a kind of chemo that can be “painted” onto the skin.

An intriguing new study from Columbia University Irving Medical Center has found that the same gene associated with a condition responsible for autoimmune-related hair loss could be recruited to help our immune cells better target tumors.

Melanoma, a common type of skin cancer, is traditionally detected via observing changes in irregular moles, and then conducting a skin biopsy. A team has now developed a blood test that can detect melanoma in its early stages, reducing the need for expensive, and frequently unnecessary biopsies.

Skin cancer is the most common form of the disease, but it usually requires a biopsy to confirm whether a mark is malignant or not. Now, an Australian team has developed a microbiopsy device that’s far less invasive, basically painless, and won’t leave a scar.

​A large population of microorganisms live on our skin. Known as the skin microbiome, many of these organisms serve a vital protective function preventing psoriasis, acne and other diseases. New research has now uncovered a strain of bacteria found on human skin that can protect against cancer.

A new device called the sKan has won the 2017 international James Dyson Award. The sKan makes heat maps of the skin to identify anomalies associated with melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, to enable earlier detection.

A cancer vaccine is one of the holy grails of modern medical research. Two recent clinical trials that have produced encouraging results in patients with skin cancer​ are are providing hope for the development of personalized cancer vaccines tailored to individual patient's tumors.