About Malignant Melanoma

When melanoma has spread around the body it is known as stage 4 or metastatic melanoma. Unfortunately stage 4 disease is notoriously difficult to treat. The standard treatment is only effective in a small number of cases and is highly unlikely to produce a cure.

At the Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Lorigan and the Melanoma Team are working very hard to develop treatments which will improve the outcome of patients with metastatic melanoma.

The Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the largest single site oncology centre in Europe; our team has the largest melanoma practice in the UK. We have close links with the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Melanoma Clinical Subgroup, UK Melanoma Study Group , the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Melanoma Group, and a number of other research groups researching the causes and treatment of melanoma. The team works collaboratively with the internationally renowned Patterson Institute, which is at the forefront of groundbreaking research. Many new treatments are developed by the pharmaceutical industry, and a close working relationship means we are able to have access to new drugs as soon as they reach the clinical trial phase.

Progress in treating cancer requires that better treatments be identified through basic scientific research and then evaluated through clinical trials – from bench to bedside. A number of exciting developments in Manchester mean that the potential for research into melanoma and other cancers will be given a huge boost. These include the planned expansion of The Derek Crowther Unit (our early phase Clinical Trials Unit) into the largest such facility in the world, the expansion of the Clinical Trials Unit to coordinate national and international studies, access to state of the art imaging through the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre and increased links with the Paterson Institute – all on the Christie site. This, together with close working relationship with other researchers in the city and with Manchester University, puts the melanoma team full centre in the fight to develop effective treatments for this disease.

NOVEL THERAPIES

Monoclonal antibodies

Antibodies are proteins made by the cells of the immune system when they come across something they don’t recognise, for example an infection. Our bodies make many antibodies as part of our immune system's reaction to infection or damaged cells. The antibodies attach themselves to the invading bacteria or viruses and help to kill them. Each antibody recognises one particular protein on the surface of a foreign or invading cell and locks onto it.

A monoclonal antibody is a copy of a single antibody which is cloned from a single parent cell. In cancer, each monoclonal antibody treatment is specific to one particular protein found on the surface of the cancer cell. These specifically targeted antibodies can then cause death of the cancer cell in a number of ways.

Some monoclonal antibodies are already licensed in the treatment of some common cancers such as bowel, lung and breast cancer. We are currently looking at their efficacy in melanoma.

Angiogenesis inhibitors

For tumours to survive they need to produce a network of blood vessels - angiogenesis inhibitors interfere with the development of blood vessels. By decreasing the tumour’s blood supply the cancer is starved of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to survive.

Cancer vaccines

The immune system sometimes does not recognise cancer cells and does not destroy them. The cancer cells are then able to grow unimpeded.

The aim of cancer vaccines is to stimulate the immune system to be able to recognise cancer cells as abnormal and destroy them.

Gene therapy

This is one of the newer approaches to cancer treatment and is in the very early stages of clinical trials. By studying how alterations in genes cause normal cells in the skin to become cancerous, scientists aim to eventually develop a therapy whereby damaged genes in the cancer cells can be replaced with normal ones, or cells can be programmed to make them more visible to the immune system or to turn on suicide pathways.

Signal transduction inhibitors

In order to grow and divide cancer cells 'communicate' with each other using chemical signals. Signal transduction inhibitors interfere with this process and so affect the cancer’s ability to develop.