Skin Cancer

Using AI to spot melanoma in its early stages is an exciting possibility, and a new deep-learning system developed by Harvard and MIT scientists promises a new level of sophistication, by using a method known as the “ugly duckling” criteria.

Researchers at Yale University have shown how skin cancer could one day be treated with a simple injection. The team found that they could shrink tumors by injecting them with adhesive nanoparticles loaded with chemotherapy drugs.

New research is outlining the long-term efficacy of a novel type of cancer vaccine. The research followed eight skin cancer patients and found the experimental treatment offers durable and persistent immune responses to cancer cells up to four years later.

Researchers in India have taken an impressive step forward with efforts to tackle cancer using magnetic nanoparticles, working the technology into a bandage that proved capable of killing skin cancer cells in experiments on mice.

Research has confirmed chemicals in sunscreen can be detected in the blood of users after just one application. But experts urge people continue using sunscreen as there is no evidence to suggest these findings point to negative health consequences.

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.