Skin Cancer & Melanoma

NEW YORK--Sunscreens represent the first line of defense against skin damage from the sun, and broad-spectrum products offer the best protection, Madhukar A. Pathak, MB, PhD, said at a media conference sponsored by the Skin Cancer Foundation.

NEW YORK--If the face is the area of the body most vulnerable to sun damage, the eyes are in need of special protection, Rene S. Rodriguez-Sains, MD, said at a media conference sponsored by the Skin Cancer Foundation. Malignancies of the eyes and periocular area are particularly serious because of their proximity to the brain and other vital structures, he said.

NEW YORK--A mollusk protein turned out to be the best carrier for a cancer vaccine being developed by Philip O. Livingston, MD, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. This approach to augmenting the immunogenicity of the GM2 ganglioside tumor antigen is about to be tested in phase III randomized trials of melanoma patients who are free of detectable disease after surgery but are at high risk for recurrence.

LISBON, Portugal--Adjuvant immunotherapy with low-dose interferon (IFN)-alfa-2a (Roferon-A) boosts disease-free survival by a significant 40% in melanoma patients with regional lymph node metastasis, according to the findings of the latest multicenter World Health Organization (WHO) Melanoma Programme trial.