Scientists develop new technique to spot melanoma skin cancer

While melanoma is less common than some other types of skin cancer, it is most serious as it often spreads. 

Researchers have developed a new way to spot melanoma skin cancer cells circulating in the blood that can raise detection rates to 72 per cent. The research could provide a new avenue for cancer diagnosis and therapies.

The research team is led by Elin Gray, Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University in Australia. They tried a multifaceted approach to detecting melanoma circulating tumour cells (CTCs) by combining three assays together.

Until now melanoma circulating tumour cells have proved to be incredibly elusive, with detection rates wildly varying from 40 to 87 per cent.

The researchers are hopeful that these preliminary findings could lead to the development of a powerful diagnostic tool and a new way to stop melanoma from spreading around the body.

Melanoma skin cancer: Causes and types

While melanoma is less common than some other types of skin cancer, it is most serious as it often spreads. This cancer occurs when pigment producing cells called melanocytes mutate and begin to divide uncontrollably.

Melanomas can develop anywhere on the skin, but they are most likely to affect the chest, back, face and legs. While legs are the most common site in women, this cancer is most likely to affect the chest and back in men. However, melanoma can also occur in the eyes and other parts of the body, including the intestines (though it happens rarely).

There are four types of melanoma: Superficial spreading melanoma, Nodular melanoma, Lentigo maligna melanoma and Acral lentiginous melanoma.

Superficial spreading melanoma is the most common type of melanoma, and it often appears on the trunk or limbs.

Lentigo maligna melanoma are common in older adults, especially in parts of the body that have had excessive sun exposure over several years, like the face.

Risk factors for melanoma include:

    Overexposure to the sun
    Having fair skin
    A family history of melanoma
    a high number of moles
    a previous organ transplant
    the presence of actinic lentigines, also known as liver spots or age spots
    older age

Of these risk factors, only sun exposure is preventable. So, avoid overexposure to the sun and prevent sunburn to lower your risk of skin cancer. If you see any changing or growing moles, get it checked as soon as possible.

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Liquid biopsy independently associated with melanoma relapse, study shows

A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that circulating tumor cells (CTCs), a form of liquid biopsy, was independently associated with melanoma relapse, suggesting CTC assessment may be useful in identifying patients at risk for relapse who could benefit from more aggressive therapy following primary treatment.

Results from the study were published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Although CTCs can be detected in melanoma patients, there is limited data regarding their significance in stage III (node-positive) disease. This prospective study was based on earlier research that found CTCs in a significant number of breast cancer patients, which was associated with relapse, independent of other existing methods for determining prognosis.

Our findings are significant, given that there is a need for blood-based biomarkers to guide clinical decision making for stage III melanoma patients. There currently are no blood tests available to help doctors accurately tell which patients are likely to relapse, and should be given therapy, and which are low risk, and could be observed."     Anthony Lucci, M.D., professor of Breast Surgical Oncology and Surgical Oncology, and study lead.

The researchers assessed CTCs during the patient's first clinic visit, and relapse-free survival was compared between patients with one or more CTCs, versus those with no CTCs. CTCs were observed in 90 out of 243 patients enrolled in the study.

"Our analysis demonstrated that CTC detection was significantly associated with a decrease in relapse-free survival at six months, and persisted at a 54-month longer-term follow-up," said Lucci. "The data from this study provides support for the future pursuit of liquid biopsy techniques to help identify patients most likely to benefit from adjuvant systemic therapy."

Lucci added that this is vital given that there currently is no clear consensus on when to recommend immunotherapy for node-positive melanoma patients. Despite the development of new targeted and immune therapies to treat melanoma, many patients either do not respond to these therapies or develop resistance to therapy within six to eight months. Because such therapies also can have side effects, avoiding treatment in patients at low risk for relapse may prevent overtreatment.

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Novel method to spot melanoma may save lives

A new method to detect melanoma cancer cells circulating in the blood may be the key to detecting deadly cancer early and saving lives, a new study says.

A team of researchers at Edith Cowan University’s Melanoma Research Group, Western Australian hospitals, and the Harvard Medical School, and revealed that a new procedure they developed could detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs), paving the way for early diagnosis and potential therapies.
The new technique, which was described in the paper published in the British Journal of Cancer, was based on the previous work of scientists belonging to the Melanoma Research Group, who developed the world’s first blood test for melanoma, which hastened its diagnosis, providing early treatment and improving health outcomes.

Melanoma is a rare type of skin cancer, but it’s the deadliest with an expected 100,350 new melanoma cases to be diagnosed in 2020, increasing by 2 percent, with an estimated 6,850 deaths. Over the years, the rates of melanoma have been increasing rapidly, the Americana Cancer Society reports.

"These preliminary findings are the first step towards a new way to stop melanoma from spreading around the body," Associate Professor Elin Gray, study’s lead researcher, said.

"Cancer spreads around the body when CTCs shed from the primary tumor and travel through the blood to form secondary tumors (metastases) in other organs. If we can find a way to reliably detect these cells, then we have a chance to stop melanoma in its tracks with a powerful diagnostic tool and perhaps opportunities for therapies in the future,” he added.

Early detection, early treatment
Just like any other type of cancer, early detection and diagnosis are the keys to improving a patient’s health outcome or prognosis. If the cancer is detected at its early stages, it’s easier to treat. But, for cancers that have metastasized in other parts of the body, particularly vital organs, it’s harder to treat.

Melanoma CTCs have been very elusive and hard to detect. Detecting these circulating cancer cells may vary between 40 and 87 percent, making diagnosis harder than expected. The researchers believe that CTCs have many differences, especially when it comes to their bioactivity and shape. Hence, these cancer cells may respond to assays differently.

What’s more, these CTCs tend to hide among thousands of other cells, particularly in the blood. In fact, in one milliliter of blood, there are less than ten cancer cells among billions of red blood cells and white blood cells. Detecting these cancer cells is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

New approach shows promise
Thanks to the work of scientists, they developed a new way to detect melanoma CTCs in the blood, providing a faster and more accurate way of diagnosing skin cancer. They studied the complexity of finding CTCs in the blood and decided they can’t use a one-size-fits-all approach.

The team combined three assays together, boosting the rates of detection to a staggering 72 percent. The rate is higher than using just one test.

"Our analysis revealed an extraordinary heterogeneity amongst melanoma CTCs, with multiple non-overlapping subpopulations. CTC detection using our multimarker approach was associated with shorter overall and progression-free survival. Finally, we found that CTC scores correlated with plasma ctDNA concentrations and had similar pharmacodynamic changes upon treatment initiation,” the team concluded in the study.

The team believes that the new approach will pave the way to develop reliable detection of CTCs. However, they want to further polish their diagnostic test to capture the broadest range of CTCs. Detecting these cancer cells early can improve survival rates and may lead to a better quality of life.

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