Category: Science
Why I Step – Jeff Heaser
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 18 April 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, Melanoma Stories, Prevention, Science, Treatment
In the summer of 2017, Jeff Heaser's eldest son, Jake, received a devastating diagnosis: Stage 4 melanoma. Over the following several years to treat his melanoma, Jake underwent multiple surgeries, radiation treatment, BRAF targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and countless blood tests and scans through Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
Neoadjuvant Therapy and the Melanoma Standard of Care: Where Does it Fit In?
15 April 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Science, Treatment
The standard of care for patients with high-risk Stage 3 melanoma with active disease, palpable lymph nodes (lymph nodes that can be felt), or in-transit metastasis (cancer cells that have started to spread but have not yet reached the lymph nodes)1 is surgery followed by systemic treatment.
What Melanoma Patients Need to Know About AMTAGVI
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 28 March 2024 In News, Science, Treatment
You may have heard of AMTAGVI, also known by the generic name lifileucel, a new therapy that recently earned FDA approval. AMTAGVI is a type of cellular therapy that uses Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) to treat patients with advanced melanoma whose melanoma hasn’t responded – or quit responding – to PD-1 based immunotherapies and BRAF/MEK targeted therapy if their melanoma has the BRAF mutation.
Melanoma Research Alliance and Antidote Improve the Clinical Trial Navigator Experience for Patients and Caregivers
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 26 March 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Science, Treatment
In an effort to empower and assist melanoma patients in their clinical trial search, MRA first joined forces with Antidote in 2017 to provide a streamlined, easy-to-use clinical trial search tool. Recently, we launched a major update to the tool with enhancements to make searches more patient-centric, especially for individuals who are impacted by rare melanoma subtypes and those seeking systemic therapy at earlier stages of disease.
The Future of Immunotherapy & Cell-based Therapies
11 March 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, News, Science, Treatment
“Melanoma research helped lead the way to a lot of paradigm shifts in cancer treatment,” says Dr. Antoni Ribas, Professor of Medicine, Surgery, and Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
Toni English's Journey from Mucosal Melanoma Patient to Advocate
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 28 February 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Melanoma Stories, Science, Treatment
In the five years since overcoming Stage 4 mucosal melanoma, Toni English has found her life’s passion advocating for patients and families and championing research to answer the many questions that surround this rare melanoma.
Recordings from MRA's 2024 Patient Forum
27 February 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, Melanoma Stories, Prevention, Science, Treatment
MRA’s 2024 Patient Forum brought together melanoma patients, survivors, advocates, and their loved ones to provide lay-friendly, state-of-the-science education and promote collaboration.
Melanoma Immunotherapies & Immune-related Adverse Events: A Conversation with Dr. Alexandra-Chloé Villani
By Tanisha Jackson, PhD - MRA Scientific Program Director | 5 February 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, Science, Treatment
Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are side effects experienced by patients undergoing immunotherapy to treat their melanoma (or other cancer). In November, at the annual Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) meeting, we spoke with Dr. Alexandra-Chloé Villani, an MRA-funded investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, to learn more about immune-related adverse events and the research she leads in this area.
100,000 Americans Estimated to be Diagnosed with Invasive Melanoma in 2024
By Joan Levy, PhD - MRA Chief Science Officer | 26 January 2024 In News, Prevention, Science, Treatment
Each January, the American Cancer Society (ACS) releases updated estimates about trends in new cancer cases and deaths in its annual report, Cancer Facts and Figures. This report highlights the estimated incidence (number of new cases), prevalence (number of people alive today with a history of cancer), and survival statistics for...
Where Innovation Meets Impact: MRA 2023 Annual Report
23 January 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, Melanoma Stories, News, Policy, Prevention, Science, Treatment
MRA is a world leader in advancing transformational science that has caused paradigm shifts in what it means to be diagnosed with and treated for melanoma. The innovative research we support isn’t just changing science — it’s giving patients more treatment options that translate to longer, fuller lives.