For Skin Cancer Awareness Month, we take a look at significant research which could help doctors and scientists prevent melanoma, or help turn it into a curable disease
6 significant breakthroughs in skin cancer research
May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. And one important fact to be aware of is that the most common skin cancers, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, aren’t the ones that kill.
The least common variety, melanoma, causes most skin-cancer deaths because it quickly spreads (metastasizes) to other parts of the body.
That’s why many researchers around the world focus on melanoma, so-called because it starts in melanocyte cells that give skin its color.
Israeli skin-cancer researcher Carmit Levy from Tel Aviv University was on a panel discussing melanoma metastasis at last February’s Melanoma Research Alliance retreat in Washington. Her colleague Ronit Satchi-Fainaro chaired a session on novel therapeutic approaches.
“We are trying to understand the triggers that cause a melanoma tumor to become metastatic, because that’s the deadly part,” Levy tells ISRAEL21c. “We try to break it down in the skin before it invades the lymph system and spreads around the body.” --
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ISRAEL21c was founded in 2001, in the wake of the Second Intifada, to broaden public understanding of Israel beyond typical portrayals in the mainstream media.
The organization’s founders – Israeli-American technology executives – understood the great power of the Internet and developed a first-of-its kind online product with global appeal and reach.
