{"id":6143,"date":"2024-03-03T09:13:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T09:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6143"},"modified":"2024-03-12T09:15:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T09:15:05","slug":"revolutionary-cancer-therapy-breakthrough-brings-hope-to-melanoma-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6143","title":{"rendered":"Revolutionary Cancer Therapy Breakthrough Brings Hope to Melanoma Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"byline\">by\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/author\/staceybrown\/\">Stacy M. Brown<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iovance.com\/\">Iovance Biotherapeutics\u2019<\/a>\u00a0cutting-edge therapy<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/vaccines-blood-biologics\/amtagvi\">\u00a0Amtagvi<\/a>\u00a0has received fast-track approval from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/\">Food and Drug Administration (FDA)<\/a>. The breakthrough marks the first-ever approval of cellular therapy for solid tumors, explicitly targeting metastatic melanoma, a particularly deadly form of skin cancer.<\/p>\n<p>While melanoma is more prevalent among individuals with lighter skin tones, it poses distinctive challenges for people of color. Although melanoma is less common for African Americans and darker-skinned individuals, diagnoses often occur at more advanced stages, resulting in higher mortality rates. Amtagvi, known as TIL therapy, offers hope for patients who have exhausted other treatment options.<\/p>\n<aside><\/aside>\n<p>TIL therapy amplifies the number of immune cells within tumors, harnessing their natural power to combat cancer effectively. Medical experts said the groundbreaking approach has shown promising results in a phase two clinical trial, prompting the FDA\u2019s fast-track approval. The therapy is pricey, at $515,000 per patient, subject to insurance coverage and potential discounts.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-1 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-caf9af3267-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The ongoing phase three trial seeks to confirm its benefits and explore applications for other solid tumors, which constitute 90% of all cancers.<\/p>\n<p>According to the FDA, common side effects associated with Amtagvi include an abnormally fast heart rate, fluid buildup, rash, hair loss, and shortness of breath. While the approval is currently limited to melanoma, medical experts anticipate broader applications for TIL therapy, particularly in cancers responsive to checkpoint inhibitors that unleash the immune system.<\/p>\n<p>The unique challenges posed by skin cancer, especially melanoma, in communities of color, have prompted a closer look at the implications of this groundbreaking therapy. According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/skinofcolorsociety.org\/\">Skin of Color Society,<\/a>\u00a0which promotes awareness of and excellence within skin-of-color dermatology, melanomas in individuals with lighter skin tones are predominantly found in sun-exposed areas. In contrast, in people of color, nearly 75% of melanomas manifest on less-exposed regions such as palms, soles, mucosal sites (mouth, genitals), and under fingernails.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny suspicious, changing, or new mole or freckle anywhere on your skin should be evaluated by your dermatologist,\u201d explained\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/skinofcolorsociety.org\/patient-dermatology-education\/melanoma\/\">Dr. Megan Brennard<em>\u00a0<\/em>of Skin of Color Society<\/a>. \u201cHowever, because many melanomas on dark skin are found on poorly visible areas, you should do a monthly self-skin examination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Along with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hmpgloballearningnetwork.com\/site\/thederm\/spotlight\/conversation-kesha-buster-md\">Dr. Kesha Buster<\/a>, Brennard<em>\u00a0<\/em>said<em>\u00a0a<\/em>n easy way to remember the signs of melanoma is by the ABCDEs, a memory aid for evaluating pigmented lesions. The physicians asserted that \u201casymmetry,\u201d \u201cborder irregularity,\u201d \u201ccolor variation,\u201d \u201cdiameter,\u201d and \u201cevolving\u201d are considered the ABCDEs.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-2 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2bd992b9b0-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The doctors further explained that \u201cany lesion suspicious for melanoma\u201d should be biopsied or completely removed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce melanoma is diagnosed, if the lesion was not completely removed initially, a second procedure will be done to remove all the cancer with margins of normal skin. Depending on the depth, your dermatologist may send you to a cancer surgeon for removal and analysis of lymph nodes to determine if the melanoma has spread. Metastatic (distantly spread) melanoma is treated with various combinations of chemotherapy, radiation, interferons, and medications through clinical studies.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"jp-relatedposts\" class=\"jp-relatedposts\">\n<div class=\"jp-relatedposts-post jp-relatedposts-post0 jp-relatedposts-post-thumbs\" data-post-id=\"1188440\" data-post-format=\"false\">Source: Published without changes from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/iovance-amtagvi-melanoma-treatment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Stacy M. Brown Iovance Biotherapeutics\u2019\u00a0cutting-edge therapy\u00a0Amtagvi\u00a0has received fast-track approval from the\u00a0Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The breakthrough marks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6145,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6143\/revisions\/6145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}