Melanoma is one of the most deadly types of skin cancer that attacks people all over the globe. Although this type of cancer is a rare type of skin cancer, it still is one of the deadliest types as it kills around 75 percent of people affected by the said cancer. This type of cancer is very susceptible to males and to those people who are frequently using tanning beds.
Moreover, melanoma is very rampant among Caucasians. This is because most of the Caucasians live in places where in the climate is sunny thus; they are more exposed to ultraviolet rays. In a report by the World Health Organization or the WHO, there are around 48,000 recorded deaths that have been caused by melanoma in every year. Furthermore, there are around 60,000 new cases of melanoma that has been diagnosed in the United States alone every year.
But this melanoma can now be treated with certain chemo drugs effectively due to research findings. In a study conducted by the researchers in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, it showed that particular chemo drugs are able to make melanoma more treatable for chemotherapy making it a more combatable disease. The chemo drugs are able to target a particular protein in the melanoma that could prevent its growth and as a result, the melanoma can then be easily treated by chemotherapy.
According to Douglas Tyler, M.D., leader of the research team and a renowned surgeon at Duke and Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, “We tested a compound that can weaken the tumor by targeting a protein expressed on the surface of a melanoma cell. When chemotherapy was applied to the tumor in this weakened state it was much more effective compared to conventional therapy alone. These results are extremely significant because they may help us better treat patients with this deadly condition.”
The chemo drugs used were ADH-1, melphalan, and temozolomide. These chemo drugs were then tested on rats that were implanted with melanoma tumors. The results showed a 30-fold improvement in the reduction of the tumor size. Tyler said, “We saw a complete regression of the tumors in the animal model when we used the regional melphalan chemotherapy in combination with ADH-1, which is far better than anything we have seen before with the chemotherapy alone. Furthermore, the addition of ADH-1 produced no additional side effects, which is an important consideration in cancer treatment.”
