Genes Unlock New Treatments for Deadly Melanoma

Why this one: Because it's personal. My brother had Melanoma. I was the one who had to tell my Mom. He's better now, having had the proper treatment, which included Chemo and its side effects. Hit me hard, if you know what I mean. -- LD

Scientific Meeting Highlights
New Therapies and Diagnostics,
Holding Promise for Melanoma Patients

NEW YORK -- Record-high registration at the upcoming 2007 International Melanoma Congress signals new promise nd hope in treating a disease that has long held a dismal prognosis for those in the advanced stages. Caught early, melanoma is one of the easiest cancers to treat, but caught late, melanoma is one of the most incurable and deadly.

This year's Congress highlights the growing understanding about the
underlying genetic mutations that cause melanoma. "With each genetic
mutation we successfully identify, it opens up yet another door to a new
therapy," says Ze'ev Ronai, Ph.D., organizer of this year's Congress and
Program Director at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. "What's
clear is that a broad-spectrum approach to treating advanced melanoma is
rapidly being replaced by targeted and likely personalized therapies."

The median life expectancy for those with advanced melanoma is nine
months and existing therapies have not improved survival in more than a
decade. Approximately five years ago, the research community began
unlocking the underlying genetic malfunctions that occur in cells, causing
melanoma. Today, researchers are beginning to correlate those discoveries
to therapies that may have a meaningful impact on the survival of patients.

"We're starting to understand that melanoma is actually many different
diseases and that there is not one easy magic bullet that we're going to
find," says Lynn Schuchter, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the Abramson
Cancer Center of University of Pennsylvania. "But there is great excitement
not only for the drugs in development, but also from the fact that much of
the basic science being done has implications for patients now. In many
cases we don't have to wait for a new drug to be developed. Drugs that are
already on the market are being used to slow down disease progression."

Highlights of the Congress includes:
-- research uncovering the usefulness of an existing drug
-- promising results of Stage II and Stage III clinical trials
-- a better diagnostic tool soon to be available
-- basic research findings that will serve as a platform for future therapies.

The Society for Melanoma Research meeting also marks a change in the
Society's main scientific publication. Pigment Cell Research will become
Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research to underscore the rapidly expanding
potential in melanoma research, and will serve as a focal point for the
international research community in discussing advances in field. A preview issue produced for the Congress will be dedicated to melanoma research. The renamed journal will be officially launched in January 2008.

The Society for Melanoma Research (SMR) is an all-volunteer group of
scientists working to find the mechanisms responsible for melanoma and,
consequently, new therapies for this cancer. SMR contributes to advances in melanoma research by bringing together researchers in a non-competitive way to unite the scientific community. The Society has commissioned the Roadmap for Melanoma which outlines the key targets for research and therapy that need to be addressed by 2010.

http://www.melanomacongress07.net

CONTACT: Berna Diehl
703-966-3602
berna@jonespa.com

SOURCE The Society for Melanoma Research