Melanoma (Melanoma, Malignant)

A malignant neoplasm derived from cells that are capable of forming melanin, which may occur in the skin of any part of the body, in the eye, or, rarely, in the mucous membranes of the genitalia, anus, oral cavity, or other sites. It occurs mostly in adults and may originate de novo or from a pigmented nevus or malignant lentigo. Melanomas frequently metastasize widely, and the regional lymph nodes, liver, lungs, and brain are likely to be involved. The incidence of malignant skin melanomas is rising rapidly in all parts of the world. (Stedman, 25th ed; from Rook et al., Textbook of Dermatology, 4th ed, p2445)

Also Known As:

Networked: 30738 relevant articles (1500 outcomes, 5235 trials/studies) for this Disease, Comments

Relationship Network

Disease Context: Research Results

Related Diseases

1.	Neoplasms (Cancer)
2.	Neoplasm Metastasis (Metastasis)
3.	Melanoma (Melanoma, Malignant)
4.	Carcinoma (Carcinomatosis)
5.	Sarcoma (Soft Tissue Sarcoma)

Experts

1.	Rosenberg, Steven A: 93 articles (12/2011 - 01/2002)
2.	Kirkwood, John M: 69 articles (12/2011 - 01/2002)
3.	Schadendorf, Dirk: 66 articles (10/2011 - 01/2002)
4.	Fisher, Paul B: 52 articles (09/2011 - 01/2002)
5.	Thompson, John F: 51 articles (12/2011 - 03/2002)
6.	Herlyn, Meenhard: 47 articles (12/2011 - 01/2002)
7.	Restifo, Nicholas P: 45 articles (12/2011 - 01/2002)
8.	Eggermont, Alexander M M: 43 articles (12/2011 - 08/2002)
9.	Hersey, Peter: 42 articles (09/2011 - 01/2002)
10.	Sarkar, Devanand: 42 articles (09/2011 - 07/2002)

Drugs and Biologics

Drugs and Important Biological Agents (IBA) related to Melanoma:

1.	Interleukin-2 (IL2)IBA 04/01/2006 - "A variety of immunotherapeutic approaches have shown activity in patients with metastatic melanoma with the best results being observed with interleukin 2 (IL-2). " 08/01/2003 - "Adjuvant treatment of intermediate- and high-risk melanoma patients with low-dose IFNalpha2b and IL-2 is safe and well tolerated by most patients, but it does not improve disease-free or overall survival." 02/01/2002 - "The efficacy of sequential chemoimmunotherapy involving interleukin-2 (IL2) in metastatic melanoma is limited, in part, by the severe toxicity associated with most therapeutic regimens. " 05/10/2008 - "The results again demonstrate efficacy of high-dose IL-2 in advanced melanoma but did not demonstrate the promising clinical activity reported with vaccine and high-dose IL-2 in any of three phase II trials." 04/01/1989 - "Thirty-six patients with metastatic melanoma were entered into a study of the therapeutic efficacy of adoptive immunotherapy with high-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2) and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
2.	Dacarbazine (DIC)FDA LinkGeneric 11/01/2007 - "Although the therapeutic efficacy is very limited, dacarbazine cannot be rejected as standard therapy for disseminated melanoma, because no other therapeutic regimen exhibits a survival benefit over DTIC in an evidence-based analysis. " 07/01/1987 - "[Successful therapy of secondary melanoma of the orbit with DTIC]." 10/01/2007 - "This study compares the antineoplastic potential of a novel treatment strategy combining cell cycle inhibitor-779 (CCI-779) plus dacarbazine (DTIC) versus DTIC monotreatment, the current chemotherapeutic mainstay in combating metastatic melanoma. " 02/01/2001 - "It is currently unclear whether any combination therapy for the treatment of metastatic melanoma is superior to standard single-agent dacarbazine (DTIC) in terms of tumour response and overall survival. " 12/01/1996 - "Several new treatment regimens for patients with metastatic melanoma have shown improved overall response rates when compared with the historical results with dacarbazine as a single agent. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
3.	AntigensIBA 05/01/1988 - "The results showed that 5-azadCyd was effective in inducing antigen expression in both systems whereas HU was effective (and equally so) only in the human melanoma cell line system. " 05/01/1987 - "The chimeric antibody, but not the mouse L6 antibody, is effective against a melanoma line expressing small amounts of the L6 antigen. " 08/01/1985 - "However, a melanoma cell line that expresses minimal levels of GD3 on 13% of the cells shows insignificant lysis by MB3.6 by either of these two mechanisms, suggesting that a threshold level of antigen expression may be required for effective in vitro cytolysis. " 03/01/1979 - "The radioimmunometric binding assay when modified and used as a binding inhibition assay was effective in the assessment of the serologic activity of soluble melanoma-associated antigens and thus may be used to monitor the progress of antigen purification." 05/01/2005 - "Although MVA-hTyr provides a safe and effective antigen-delivery system, it does not elicit a measurable immune response to its transgene product in patients with stage II melanoma after repeated combined intradermal and subcutaneous vaccination. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
4.	Cisplatin (Platino)FDA LinkGeneric 01/01/1990 - "However, in melanoma, administration of 200 mg/m2 per course did not appear to be associated with a markedly improved response rate, compared with cisplatin alone at "standard" doses." 09/01/2011 - "The combination treatment of cAT-MSC-IFN-β with cisplatin was more effective in inhibiting the growth of melanoma and resulted in significantly extended survival time than both an unengineered cAT-MSC-cisplatin combination group and a cisplatin-alone group. " 09/15/1991 - "Lack of efficacy of high-dose, cisplatin-based therapy for metastatic melanoma." 01/01/1983 - "On account of the considerable differences among these data the clinical study of Stage II had been started which should contribute to the elucidation of efficacy of cis-platinum in malignant melanoma treatment. " 05/01/2010 - "The present study was designed to determine the possibility that the combination of MP gene therapy with low-dose cisplatin would improve therapeutic efficacy against murine melanoma. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
5.	VaccinesIBA 10/15/2005 - "Of all the vaccines, the dual-modified vaccine generated the best therapeutic efficacy on melanoma-bearing mice, the strongest protection against melanoma challenge. " 03/01/2008 - "Clinical responses to melanoma vaccines are still poor and currently there is no melanoma vaccine with a proven efficacy. " 02/01/2004 - "When will melanoma vaccines be proven effective?" 05/01/2005 - "Altered intracellular sorting signals do not significantly influence the efficacy of genetic melanoma vaccines incorporating helper determinants in our model system. " 02/01/2002 - "Some of these experimental vaccines have increased overall survival rate and increased disease-free interval rate in patients with melanoma. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
6.	InterferonsIBA 05/01/2008 - "Adjuvant high-dose interferon for cutaneous melanoma is most beneficial for patients with early stage III disease." 12/01/2002 - "Clinical studies have demonstrated that high dose adjuvant interferon therapy improves disease-free and overall survival among high risk (stage IIb and III) melanoma patients. " 12/01/2005 - "Melanoma patients were treated successfully with high-dose interferon. " 12/01/2000 - "In the randomised clinical trial E1684, the administration of interferon (IFN) alpha-2b resulted in prolonged disease-free and overall survival in high-risk melanoma patients following surgical resection. " 03/01/2000 - "There is conflicting data regarding the efficacy of systemic interferon as adjuvant therapy for high-risk cutaneous melanoma. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
7.	Interferon-alpha (Interferon Alfa)FDA Link 01/01/2002 - "Interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) represents an adjuvant therapy of proven effectiveness in increasing disease-free interval and survival in subgroups of melanoma patients. " 07/06/2001 - "Interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) represents an adjuvant therapy of proven effectiveness in increasing disease-free interval and survival in subgroups of melanoma patients. " 01/01/2003 - "AVAX Technologies was enrolling patients with stage III melanoma in the pivotal US phase III trial for registration of M-Vax trade ed, multicentre trial designed to compare the efficacy of the vaccine against high-dose interferon-alpha, the standard post-surgical treatment for stage III melanoma. " 07/01/2000 - "Among the numerous agents tested for the adjuvant therapy of high-risk melanoma, interferon-alpha 2b (IFN-alpha2b) administered at maximally tolerated doses is the only one to demonstrate an improvement in relapse-free and overall survival for these patients. " 03/01/2000 - "Interferon-alpha is also effective in adjuvant therapy for non-advanced melanoma treated surgically. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
8.	DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)IBA 07/01/1994 - "As the clinical and histological differential diagnosis between Spitz naevus and cutaneous melanoma may be very difficult, we have investigated whether DNA in situ hybridization maybe helpful in resolving this problem. " 04/01/2001 - "Immunization with DNA and peptide-pulsed spleen cells had a synergistic effect and provided significant protection against a challenge with poorly immunogenic B16-F0 malignant melanoma cells in the syngeneic C57BL/6 mouse model. " 01/01/2011 - "Determine if a novel xenogeneic DNA vaccine is safe and potentially effective for treatment of dogs with digit melanoma. " 07/15/1993 - "The action spectrum (sensitivity per incident photon as a function of wavelength) for melanoma induction shows appreciable sensitivity at 365, 405, and probably 436 nm, suggesting that wavelengths not absorbed directly in DNA are effective in induction. " 03/15/2000 - "The aim of this study was to determine whether DNA image cytometry is helpful in distinguishing benign from malignant melanocytic lesions and whether cytometry would give valid information with which to predict the prognoses associated with malignant melanomas. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
9.	Melphalan (Alkeran)FDA LinkGeneric 03/01/1975 - "The addition of heat to regional perfusion with melphalan has dramatically improved the objective response of melanoma. " 03/20/2011 - "Isolated limb infusion (ILI) with melphalan (M-ILI) dosing corrected for ideal body weight (IBW) is a well-tolerated treatment for patients with in-transit melanoma with a 29% complete response rate. " 10/15/2009 - "Isolated limb infusion with melphalan is a well-tolerated treatment for patients with in-transit extremity melanoma with an approximately 30% complete response (CR) rate. " 08/01/2006 - "We attempted a novel approach in this condition using a technique of intra-arterial limb infusion with cytotoxic agent Melphalan (ILI) which has been proven beneficial in management of localised malignant melanoma. " 10/01/2001 - "By using continuous leakage monitoring and using the drug melphalan, a high complete remission rate is obtained in patients with melanoma. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
10.	Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (Tumor Necrosis Factor)IBA 07/04/1995 - "Local administration of high-dose r-TNF alpha with IFN gamma in the limbs of melanoma patients has proved to be a very promising treatment. " 10/01/2010 - "Radiation-inducible human tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) gene therapy: a novel treatment for radioresistant uveal melanoma." 05/01/2010 - "As TNF-alpha is commonly used as a DC maturation factor, we have examined the efficacy of treatment with DC matured with TNF-alpha (DC-TNF) in a murine model of melanoma. " 03/01/2009 - "The aim of the present study was to describe our experience with 113 stage IIIA/IIIAB melanoma patients treated with a TNFalpha-based ILP and identify prognostic factors for response, locoregional control and survival. " 03/23/2007 - "In this study, we investigated the effect of IL-6/sIL-6R on TNF-alpha-resistant B16/F10.9 melanoma cells. " Order ALL the reference details at left...

Therapies and Procedures

1.	Drug Therapy (Chemotherapy) 06/01/1993 - "Metastatic melanoma is difficult to treat because of low response rates to most chemotherapy regimens and short remission durations. " 09/01/1991 - "Chemotherapy seems to be more effective in CMM than in adult melanomas, but prophylaxis is also the best therapy in children: early removal of congenital giant pigmented naevi and frequent monitoring, if not excision, of all congenital melanocytic lesions must be considered." 08/01/2010 - "Considering this case, it is assumed that the combination of surgical debulking and chemotherapy are not always beneficial in ovarian malignant melanoma and the prognosis of ovarian malignant melanoma is very poor." 07/01/2008 - "These results show that inhibition of PDI activity increases apoptosis in response to agents which induce ER stress and suggest that the development of potent, small-molecule PDI inhibitors has significant potential as a powerful tool for enhancing the efficacy of chemotherapy in melanoma." 08/01/2003 - "Chemotherapy for metastatic melanoma is disappointing, there being anecdotal cases of complete remission. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
2.	Immunotherapy 10/01/2003 - "These findings clearly revealed that highly efficient MAA gene transduction to DCs by AdRGD could greatly improve the efficacy of DC-based immunotherapy against melanoma." 05/01/2010 - "IFN-alpha immunotherapy was synergistic with WP1193 showing marked in vivo efficacy against metastatic and established intracerebral melanoma. " 06/01/1977 - "Complete remission of metastatic malignant melanoma following immunotherapy with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG): report of a case." 12/20/2005 - "These studies demonstrate that lower levels of survivin in recurrent metastatic melanomas are associated with significantly improved survival in patients receiving postoperative adjuvant immunotherapy. " 04/01/2001 - "The rising incidence of melanoma, combined with lack of efficacy of cytotoxic therapies, means there is a significant need for the development of effective immunotherapies. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
3.	Heterologous Transplantation (Xenotransplantation) 03/24/2011 - "When used alone or in combination with a specific inhibitor of the BRAF(V600E) oncogene, DHODH inhibition led to a marked decrease in melanoma growth both in vitro and in mouse xenograft studies. " 04/01/2008 - "In a human melanoma xenograft model, established from a short-term culture of primary melanoma cells, we demonstrated that the Ad5/35-based therapy had a significantly greater anti-neoplastic effect than the homologous Ad5-based therapy. " 09/01/1998 - "The therapeutic efficacy of the AdmTyr-tk virus was tested in vivo using a xenograft model of human melanoma. " 01/01/1992 - "LOX melanoma xenografts and was as effective against established disease (MX-1 and LOX) as it was against early-stage disease (no data are available for early-stage NCI-H82). " 07/01/1999 - "In the present study, the efficacy of Leu-DOX was compared with free DOX in inhibiting the growth of four DOX-sensitive and -resistant malignant melanoma xenografts. " Order ALL the reference details at left...
4.	Radiotherapy 01/01/1985 - "In this paper, we present a case where radiotherapy was very effective against malignant melanoma. " 01/15/2004 - "In the current study, the authors assessed the efficacy of elective radiotherapy in providing regional (lymph node) control in patients with cutaneous melanoma of the head and neck who were at high risk for lymph node involvement. " 11/01/2011 - "To assess the efficacy of surgery and high-dose split-course radiotherapy in sinonasal head and neck mucosal melanoma (SHNMM). " 07/08/1987 - "[Radiotherapy of malignant melanoma of the choroid with ruthenium-106 applicator gives good results]." 06/01/2004 - "Radiotherapy at a dose of 3 Gy or more per fraction was effective in gaining local control in patients with localized mucosal melanoma of the head and neck, and subsequently better survival was possible, especially in younger patients." Order ALL the reference details at left...
5.	Lymph Node Excision (Lymph Node Dissection) 09/01/1983 - "One of the most controversial areas in the management of malignant melanoma concerns the efficacy of prophylactic lymph node dissection. " 05/01/1981 - "Regional lymphadenectomy offers no improvement in survival in patients with low-risk and moderate-risk melanoma and can play only a minor role at most in improving survival for patients with high-risk melanoma." 07/01/1999 - "Efficacy of lymphatic mapping, sentinel lymphadenectomy, and selective complete lymph node dissection as a therapeutic procedure for early-stage melanoma." 10/01/2007 - "Pelvic lymph node dissection is beneficial in subsets of patients with node-positive melanoma." 08/01/1997 - "It remains uncertain whether elective lymphadenectomy can be therapeutically beneficial in the management of melanoma. " Order ALL the reference details at left...