Skin Cancer
Skin Cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the UK. Over the last decade, the number of people being diagnosed with malignant melanoma has increased by almost half.
Research and finding effective treatment are key to helping patients – which is where the hospital charity comes in. We help the skin cancer team conduct trials into some of the many other forms of skin cancer where there is less understanding of the most effective treatments.
The trials aim to ease the burden of treatments on patients, whilst still fighting the cancer and improving the patient’s quality of life and life expectancy. The trials also give patients more treatment options when standard treatments have failed.
Immunotherapy studies and how they can help
Immunotherapies, which release the brakes from the immune system, are dramatically improving outcomes for patients with advanced-stage melanoma. Despite this, not every melanoma responds to this treatment and some patients will suffer debilitating and life-threatening side effects.
Currently it is not possible to predict which melanoma patients will benefit from immunotherapy, exposing those patients that will not benefit to the unnecessary side effects of ineffective treatment.
A recent study has shown that melanoma patients infected with “cytomegalovirus” have much better responses to immunotherapy. Cytomegalovirus infects half the population. Infected people carry the virus for life, usually without knowing.
How to help skin cancer patients
How being infected with cytomegalovirus leads to better immunotherapy response is currently unknown. University Hospital Birmingham Charity helped fund the computer analysis of the experiments conducted to provide the medical team with important information on how cytomegalovirus improves immunotherapy response.
This information will help to better predict outcome, better inform patients, and develop strategies to improve immunotherapy response.
First, we will identify if immune cells are able to recognise cytomegalovirus are present within melanoma tumours using special probes called dextramers. Second, we will examine the many different types of immune cells are present, and which genes are turned on and off within them inside the melanoma tumour, using a cutting-edge technology called CosMX.
If you would like to further support research into skin cancer at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham to help save, change and rebuild lives, please donate today.