Participate in a Study

Melanoma is an aggressive cancer. Though current medical knowledge does not include a thorough understanding of why melanoma develops so quickly, we do know how it progresses. Mutations in cancer cells allow the disease to progress and enter the blood stream fairly quickly. From there it establishes colonies in other parts of the body and begins reproducing. One aspect of research at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance focuses on trying to interrupt that process in order to prevent the spread of the disease. Although a great deal of research has been done on diagnosing melanoma and on estimating the prognosis of patients with melanoma, much work remains to be done to develop more effective treatments to shrink tumors, enhance patients’ immune systems, and find treatments that are less toxic and have fewer side effects.

The best treatment for melanoma is in a clinical trial. There is no standard therapy for advanced melanoma.

Clinical trials are research studies designed to develop better treatments. Patients participating in clinical trials have the first chance to benefit from treatments that have shown promise in earlier research. They also make an important contribution to medical science by helping doctors learn more about the disease. Learn more about clinical studies and what they are all about.

Open clinical trials

• A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase III study to assess the efficacy of recMAGE-A3 + AS15 ASCI as adjuvant therapy in patients with MAGE-A3 positive resected stage III melanoma.
  Principal Investigator:  John Thompson, M.D.
  Study Number:  20081101
  Contact: Research Coordinator at (206) 288-7370 or the new patient care coordinator at (206) 288-6542
  NIH link:
  http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00796445?term=MAGE-A3&rank=8
   
• Phase I Study To Evaluate Cellular Adoptive Immunotherapy Using Autologous CD8+ Antigen-Specific T Cell Clones Following Cyclophosphamide Conditioning For Patients With Metastatic Melanoma.
  Principal Investigator: Cassian Yee, MD
  Study Number: 2140
  Contact: (206) 667-1539, tcelltrials@fhcrc.org or the new patient care coordinator at (206) 288-6542. For more information on this trial: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00438984?term=NCT00438984&rank=1
   
• Phase I/II Study To Evaluate The Safety of Cellular Adoptive Immunotherapy Using Autologous CD4+ and CD8+ Antigen-Specific T Cell Clones for Patients with Metastatic Melanoma.
  Principal Investigator: Cassian Yee, MD
  Study Number: 2179
  Contact: (206) 667-1539, tcelltrials@fhcrc.org or the new patient care coordinator at (206) 288-6542. For more information on this trial: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00553306?term=NCT00553306&rank=1
   
• Phase I/II Study of Cellular Adoptive Immunotherapy Using Autologous 
  CD8+ NY-ESO-1-Specific T Cell Clones and anti-CTLA4 for Patients With
  Metastatic Melanoma.
  Principal Investigator: Aude Chapuis, MD
  Study Number: 2225
  Contact: (206) 667-1539, tcelltrials@fhcrc.org or the new patient care coordinator at (206) 288-6542. For more information on this trial: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00871481?term=NCT00871481&rank=1

Studies pending and not yet open

An Open-Label, Multicenter, Phase III Trial of ABI-007 vs Dacarbazine in Previously Untreated Patients With Metastatic Malignant Melanoma
Principal Investigator: Shailender Bhatia, MD NIH LINK:
Study Number: 20082144
Contact: (206) 667-1539 or the new patient care coordinator (206) 288-6542. For more information on this trial: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00864253?term=melanoma+abraxis&rank=3

Research Examples

There are currently active treatment protocols at SCCA for patients who have completed surgery (post-surgery treatment is called “adjuvant” treatment) and are either at risk for a recurrence of melanoma or whose melanoma has metastasized (spread). These treatment protocols involve new diagnostic tests and therapies. A few examples include:

• Position emission tomography. PET scans produce pictures of the body’s biological functions using nuclear medicine. A PET scan can monitor a patient’s response to chemotherapy treatment and detect certain diseases earlier than other procedures can.
• Vaccines. Dr. David Byrd, UW Medicine surgeon and co-director of SCCA’s melanoma clinic with Dr. Thompson, is doing promising work with vaccines. These studies investigate a vaccine’s ability to stimulate the immune system to attack melanoma cells.
• Gene therapy. Studies are underway to modify the genetics of tumors to make them more susceptible to attacks by cancer-fighting drugs.
• Chemotherapy. Treatment with new drugs—such as Sorafnib—is being explored.
• Immunotherapy. This treatment uses the body’s immune system to fight cancer. The patient's immune cells that target melanoma cells are isolated, then expanded in the lab and infused back into the patient. In some cases, a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy is used.

Dr. Thompson’s research

Three of Dr. John Thompson’s innovative protocols test and compare the effectiveness of using three approaches in three different ways:

• Interferon alone
• Biochemotherapy—a combination of chemotherapy and Interleukin-2
• Combination of Interferon, Interleukin-2 and chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs that kill cancer cells and other fast-growing cells such as hair cells. Commonly, patients receiving chemotherapy develop a weakened immune system.

Interferon is a protein that human cells produce when a virus or cancer invades them. Once in the bloodstream, Interferon encourages the body’s white cells to manufacture an enzyme that fights the disease. This boost to a cancer patient’s immune system can have a direct effect against melanoma.

Interleukin-2 is Interferon’s cousin. It helps stimulate the immune system, but doesn’t directly attack melanoma cells. However, it can assist Interferon by revving up the immune system to better attack these cells.

Though not yet proven, Dr. Thompson hopes that further study will find that Interferon and Interleukin-2 also correct or compensate for the immune suppression caused by chemotherapy.

Melanoma Clinical Trials at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center