Advancing Cancer Research

Christine Wilson, cancer survivor, shares her experiences from the Focus On Melanoma conference in the second in a series of four blog posts.

Cancer research has become increasingly complex.  It is almost impossible for even the most educated non-scientist to understand the incredibly intricate mechanisms that drive normal and abnormal cell growth, and the language used to describe these phenomena is essentially foreign to all but those trained in biology, chemistry and genetics.  But, as science becomes more difficult to understand, it is also becoming more important.  It wasn't all that long ago that basic and clinical research were considered two separate worlds. Today, the gap between the lab and the clinic is narrowing, and the path between them is a two-way street. 

The presentations of Jessie Villaneuva, PhD, and Robert Vonderheide, MD, at the Abramson Cancer Center's Focus On Melanoma Conference, made it clear just how important research is in advancing the treatment of melanoma, and cancer in general.

Dr. Villaneuva researches cancer at the Wistar Institute, an independent basic research institute located on the Penn campus.  For many years, Wistar has had a top melanoma research program and maintained a highly productive collaboration with the clinical researchers and oncology team at Penn Medicine. Wistar researchers have been among the leaders in identifying specific genetic mutations that regulate cell growth along complex pathways.  For melanoma, these "broken" genes include BRAF, PTEN and several other less frequent mutations.  As Dr. Villaneuva pointed out, understanding the precise mechanisms that turn cell growth on and off is leading to new therapies. 

Basic research at the Wistar Institute and other leading centers is also critical in tackling the problem of drug resistance.  The pattern is all too clear, and too predictable.  A new cancer-fighting agent is identified.  A substantial percentage of patients respond to the drug, sometimes dramatically. But at some point, the drug becomes ineffective.  The cancer starts to grow again as the malignant cells develop ways of eluding or circumventing the action of the anti-cancer agent. 

Dr. Villaneuva described the efforts under way to understand the molecular mechanisms that lead to drug resistance and develop the next level of combination therapies to anticipate and overcome this huge challenge to successful cancer therapy.

For decades, researchers have known that melanoma is in many ways influenced by the body's immune system.  Dr. Vonderheide characterized this as an ongoing struggle between "the immune system versus melanoma."  

Immunotherapeutic approaches to treating melanoma have been consistently intriguing, promising — and disappointing. Melanoma appears to be capable of "waiting out" the body's natural immune response.  But researchers keep returning to this area, and now with their remarkably increased understanding of the complexities of the immune system, their work is bearing rich new fruit.   Immunotherapeutic approaches are the heart and soul of the new agents that are emerging for melanoma treatment. 

According to Dr. Vonderheide, these new approaches can either accelerate or activate the body's natural immune responses against the abnormal cell growth of melanoma, or "hit the brakes," actually slowing down the immune response to allow more effective interventions with vaccines and other cellular therapies.  While the immunotherapy work is proceeding on multiple fronts, the most exciting results are in the area of monoclonal antibodies, including ipilimumab, and several other targeted therapies in early stages of clinical trials.

For more information, view the Focus On Melanoma conference video and Melanoma Treatment: A Patient Video Guide, on the ACC website.

Learn more about melanoma treatment at Penn Medicine.