Surgical excision, the first step in treating melanoma, works well for many patients in the early stages of melanoma, the deadliest of all skin cancers. The surgery is an outpatient procedure usually performed in the doctor’s office. However, melanoma must be treated early to avoid fatal consequences. The skin cancer has four stages. In the third stage, the cancer has spread to local lymph nodes. By the fourth stage, melanoma has spread to internal organs. Clinical trials with new drugs have encouraging results.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy has been used in the treatment of melanoma with limited success, but research continues, the Skin Cancer Foundation explains. Dacarbazine treats patients through an injection. It may be combined with the drugs carmustin, tamoxifen, cisplatin and vinblastine. Oral drugs include temozolomide. More work is being done on anti-angiogenics, which prevent new blood vessels from forming. This may help prevent blood supply to cancer cells so they cannot grow. Other drugs showing promise in action against melanoma include the anti-angiogenic thalidomide combined with temozolomide. Angiostatin and endostatin are also being looked at in preliminary studies.
Immunotherapy
Interferon alpha has been shown to improve five-year survival rates of patients in the third stage of melanoma, the Skin Cancer Foundation notes. Interferon alpha and tumor necrosis factor are produced naturally in the body by lymphocytes and may have the ability to destroy melanomas. However, the drugs have significant side effects that may limit their action in patients. Chemicals called lymphokines are being used for treatment in patients with fourth-stage melanoma and are still in the experimental stage. They may work in combination with interferon alpha to fight melanoma cells. Vaccines for patients in the later stages of melanoma may stimulate the immune system, the Mayo Clinic reports. The vaccines are made of altered cancer cells that may destroy melanoma or slow its progress.
Gene Therapy
Gene therapy for melanoma is in its early stages, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. In one technique, alterations in white blood cells or lymphocytes that produce antibodies help them attack melanoma. Cells are removed from a patient and treated outside the body to increase the number of cells. The goal is to make the cells more aggressive to destroy the cancer. The altered cells are returned to the body to stimulate the immune system and kill the melanoma. Targeted therapy attempts to attack the cancer cells without harming normal cells, according to the National Cancer Institute. Monoclonal antibodies are made in the lab from an immune system cell. They attach to normal substances when back in the body and kill cancer cells or stop them from growing. This procedure may be used along with chemotherapy. Researchers are continuing to look for molecules in the body that stimulate the production of antibodies.
