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.
Not all people with melanoma are cured with standard therapy. As a result, many patients seek help through clinical trials, which 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.
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:
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