Did you know that Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer?
Every hour of every day, one American dies of melanoma. The American Cancer Society estimates that over 100,000 new melanomas will be diagnosed in 2020 with over 6,000 deathsexpected. Melanoma is one of the most common cancers in young adults, especially young women. While you are reading this, someone has died from melanoma and ten people will be diagnosed.
Please make an appointment with a dermatologist today for an annual skin check.
ICA has funded melanoma research for Professor Ronit Satchi-Fainaro that has transformed the treatment of melanoma. Professor Fainaro’s team at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with scientists from the Weizmann Institute, the University of Lisbon in Portugal, and the University of Turin in Italy, have developed a new treatment for melanoma, which integrates three strategies: immunotherapy, the tumor micro-environment, and nano-particle vaccination. The combined therapy activates immune cells to act specifically against cancer cells and inhibits the tumor’s micro-environment from interfering with their activity.
Also, at Tel Aviv University, ICA funded scientist Carmit Levy has discovered that fat cells play a role in transforming Melanoma into a metastatic state. “Blocking the transformation of melanoma is one of the primary targets of cancer research today, and we now know fat cells are involved in this change, said Professor Levy, It is important to note that we found the process reversible in the laboratory: When we removed the fat cells from the melanoma, the cancer cells calmed down and stopped migrating.”
In 2012 in Florida, Stewart Greenberg was given 3 months to live after a diagnosis of metastatic melanoma in his stomach, when a trip to Israel saved his life. ICA funded scientist Dr. Michal Lotem, head of the Hadassah Melanoma and Cancer Immunotherapy Center (HMCIC), saved his life with an individualized vaccine that stimulated his immune system to fight cancer. He is alive and well 8 years later.
Today’s research is tomorrow’s cure. Please consider a donation to continue this research.