Melanoma

Melanoma is a form of cancer that begins in melanocytes (cells that make the pigment melanin). It may begin in a mole (skin melanoma), but can also begin in other pigmented tissues, such as in the eye or in the intestines.

What are Melanomas?

The treatment of melanoma may involve surgery, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, or a combination of several treatment techniques. Each of these treatments is outlined below.

Melanoma Symptoms and Cause

How is Melanoma Diagnosed and Treated?

Melanoma Prognosis

Melanoma History

Melanoma Research

Choroidal Melanoma

Managing Choroidal Melanomas

Malignant Melanoma

Metastatic Melanoma

What are the Statistics of Melanoma?

Latest Melanoma News and Research

Research explores how photo-oxidized sterols kill melanoma cells

Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer. Although less common, it is the most serious due to its high potential for metastasis.

16 Apr 2025

Blood test for tumor DNA may predict melanoma recurrence

Monitoring blood levels of DNA fragments shed by dying tumor cells may accurately predict skin cancer recurrence, a new study shows.

15 Apr 2025

Boosting tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy with the power of B cells

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have found that tapping into the body's own immune system and activating a type of immune cell known as B cells, could be the key to boosting the effectiveness of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte, or TIL therapy.

11 Apr 2025

GSK3β identified as a driver of drug resistance in BRAF mutant melanoma

A new research perspective was published in Oncotarget, Volume 16, on April 4, 2025, titled "GSK3β activation is a key driver of resistance to Raf inhibition in BRAF mutant melanoma cells."

11 Apr 2025

New blood test method improves accuracy of cancer detection

A new, error-corrected method for detecting cancer from blood samples is much more sensitive and accurate than prior methods and may be useful for monitoring disease status in patients following treatment, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine and New York Genome Center investigators.

11 Apr 2025

New liver directed treatment improves outcomes for rare eye cancer

A multi-institutional study led by Moffitt Cancer Center found that percutaneous hepatic perfusion using a melphalan hepatic delivery system may help patients with a rare eye cancer that has spread to their liver.

10 Apr 2025

Sylvester Cancer Center launches clinical trial for patients with high-grade neuroendocrine tumors

A clinical trial for patients with high-grade neuroendocrine tumors is now open for enrollment at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

9 Apr 2025

Protein linked to Parkinson's also found to drive melanoma growth

A small protein involved in neurodegeneration leading to Parkinson's disease also drives a type of skin cancer known as melanoma, new research led by Oregon Health & Science University finds.

9 Apr 2025

IL-12 cytokine factory demonstrates success in targeting hard-to-treat cancers

A team of researchers from the Rice Biotech Launch Pad at Rice University has developed an implantable "cytokine factory" that safely triggers potent immune responses against hard-to-treat cancers, including metastatic melanoma, pancreatic and colorectal tumors.

8 Apr 2025

Blocking an enzyme to overcome immunotherapy resistance in melanoma patients

About 65% of melanoma patients do not respond to immunotherapy. New work by the team of Prof. Max Mazzone (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology) discovered that an enzyme called HPGDS (expressed in a specific subset of macrophages), plays a key role in immunotherapy resistance.

7 Apr 2025

Mouse and organoid models reveal FGFR2's role in pancreatic cancer aggression and interception

Pancreatic cancer is projected to become the second-deadliest cancer by 2030. By the time it's diagnosed, it's often difficult to treat. So, for both individual patients and the general population, fighting pancreatic cancer can feel like a race against time. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor and Cancer Center Director David Tuveson offers a telling analogy:

3 Apr 2025

New TIL therapy improves treatment's effectiveness in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal cancers

A new form of tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, a form of personalized cancer immunotherapy, dramatically improved the treatment's effectiveness in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal cancers, according to results of a clinical trial led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

1 Apr 2025

Traditional Chinese medicine targets cholesterol metabolism for cancer treatment

Researchers explore how natural compounds in traditional Chinese medicine can modulate cholesterol metabolism to combat cancer.

31 Mar 2025

Enhancing skin cancer screening with 3D imaging technology

The potential for 3D photography to improve melanoma early detection is a topic of increasing interest in the medical community.

27 Mar 2025

Nanotechnology innovation aims to improve breast cancer treatment

University of Queensland researchers are designing nanotechnology they believe could improve how we treat the most aggressive form of breast cancer.

24 Mar 2025

New drug combination shows promise in treating melanoma brain metastasis

A federally funded research team led by Sheri Holmen, PhD, investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Utah (the U), is testing a new combination drug therapy that could both treat and prevent melanoma metastasis, or spreading from its original site, to the brain.

21 Mar 2025

Melanoma cells use stealth strategy to survive targeted therapy

Researchers have uncovered a stealth survival strategy that melanoma cells use to evade targeted therapy, offering a promising new approach to improving treatment outcomes.

20 Mar 2025

Researchers challenge the genetic paradigm of cancer

It's time for researchers to reconsider the current paradigm of cancer as a genetic disease, argued Sui Huang from the Institute for Systems Biology, USA, and colleagues in a new essay published March 18th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

19 Mar 2025

Targeting MARCO enhances cancer immunotherapy effectiveness

Researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center have found a new way to boost cancer immunotherapy by targeting a protein called macrophage receptor with collagenous structure, or MARCO.

13 Mar 2025

Examining skin cancer risk perceptions and reported sunburns among U.S. adults

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States and a significant health issue, with millions of non-melanoma cases and tens of thousands of melanomas diagnosed annually. Furthermore, treating skin cancer costs the U.S. approximately $8.9 billion annually.

12 Mar 2025