Healthy Habits - Melanoma

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that develops when melanocytes (the cells that give skin its color) start to grow out of control. Unusual moles, sores, lumps, blemishes, markings, or changes in the way an area of the skin looks or feels may be a sign of melanoma or another type of skin cancer, or a warning that it might occur.

 

• Melanoma only accounts for about 4% of all skin cancers, but it is the most invasive and deadly type.³
• An estimated 97,000 people are diagnosed with melanoma each year.¹
• The average age for diagnosis is 66 years old.¹

 

When melanoma spreads to other parts of the body, it is considered advanced melanoma.⁴ Five percent of patients are diagnosed with metastatic melanoma.⁵ About 8,000 people will die from melanoma each year in the U.S.

 

Treatment for melanoma depends on the stage, size and location of the cancer. Early-stage melanomas are usually treated with surgery to remove the melanoma.⁶ If melanoma has spread beyond the skin, treatment options may include surgery along with immune checkpoint inhibitor-based treatments and/or targeted therapies. Sometimes radiation and/or chemotherapy are used as well.

 

New therapeutic advances for metastatic melanoma now include something called TIL cell therapy, which uses the power of a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer.

 

Doctors take a small sample of the tumor and collect immune cells called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) – cells that naturally recognize and attack cancer. Because cancer can overwhelm these cells, they’re grown in large numbers outside the body and then given back to the patient in a single infusion.

 

This creates a much stronger immune attack against the tumor. Real-world evidence shows that using TIL therapy earlier can lead to better results. And because it works by strengthening a core immune response, this type of treatment may also help other diseases driven by similar biology.

 

In this interview, Brian Gastman, M.D. Executive Vice President, Translational Medicine and Research at Iovance, discusses metastatic melanoma, who it impacts, signs and symptoms, and the latest therapeutic advances. Chris White, Cancer survivor and advocate who has been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, also joins the discussion to talk about his experience.

 

Courtesy: Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc.