Viruses, Infections & Disease, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 31, 2012

Drug for Advanced Skin Cancer Wins FDA Approval

The Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a drug to treat advanced cases of the most common skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, the agency announced yesterday (Jan. 30). The drug, a capsule called Erivedge (generically known as vismodegib), treats basal cell carcinoma that has metastasized (spread...

Mar 1, 2012

Vitamin A May Slash Melanoma Risk, Especially in Women

Vitamin A supplements could reduce the risk of developing the deadly skin cancer melanoma, according to a new study. The results show that people taking vitamin A were 60 percent less likely to develop melanoma over the six-year study. People who had taken the vitamin, but weren't currently taking it,...

Mar 7, 2012

Melanoma Patients' Reaction to Drug Sheds Light on Treatment

A drug recently approved to treat deadly forms of melanoma can double the length of patients' lives — however, the drug eventually stops working, and the cancer returns. Now, new research explains why some cancers stop responding to the drug, and points toward treatment options for these patients. The Food...

May 29, 2012

Aspirin May Help Prevent Skin Cancer

Aspirin and other similar anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen and naproxen can lessen the risk of three major types of skin cancer, a new study suggests. Researchers studied medical records from northern Denmark from 1991 through 2009, finding 3,242 diagnoses of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, along...

Jul 2, 2012

Coffee Consumption May Cut Skin Cancer Risk

Drinking coffee with caffeine may reduce the risk of basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer, a new study suggests. But the researchers say you should not change your coffee habits based on this one study. Our data indicate that the more caffeinated coffee you consume, the...

Jan 16, 2013

Smartphone Apps for Skin Cancer: How Accurate Are They?

Smartphone applications that say they can help determine whether or not a skin lesion is cancerous by reviewing a picture are often inaccurate, a new study reports. Three out of four applications tested in the study misclassified at least 30 percent of melanomas as unconcerning, the researchers said. Just one...

Apr 23, 2013

Skin Cancer Linked to Higher Risk of Other Cancers

People who have had common skin cancers may be at an increased risk of getting cancer again in their life, according to a new study. The study found that women with nonmelanoma skin cancers (such as basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma) were 26 percent more likely to later...

May 30, 2013

Coffee May Help Protect Against Skin Cancer

Protection against skin cancer can be added to the list of health benefits that come with drinking coffee, a new study says. Women who drank more than three cups of coffee daily were 21 percent less likely to develop basal cell carcinoma (BCC), compared with women who drank less than...

May 30, 2013

Common Pain Drugs Linked with Lower Skin Cancer Risk

Taking painkillers such as aspirin and ibuprofen may lower the risk of skin cancer, a new study from Denmark suggests. Researchers found that people who took nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were less likely to have three types of skin cancer, including the deadliest type, malignant melanoma. The new findings do...

May 30, 2013

Deadliest Skin Cancer Hides in Plain Sight, Study Finds

More people survive melanoma now than in generations past, but the death rate of one type of melanoma has not budged for the past 30 years, a new study shows. Nodular melanoma consistently accounts for 14 percent of diagnosed melanomas, but makes up 37 percent of ultimately fatal cases, according...

May 30, 2013

FDA Approves New Skin Cancer Drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today (March 25) approved the drug Yervoy (ipilimumab) to treat patients with late-stage, metastatic melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. Yervoy works by blocking a molecule known as cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen, or CTLA-4, which hinders the body's immune system in fighting off...

May 30, 2013

Coffee-Drinking May Reduce Risk of Skin Cancer

Drinking copious amounts of coffee may reduce the risk of the most common type of skin cancer, a new study finds. Women in the study who drank more than three cups of coffee a day were 20 percent less likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, a slow-growing form of skin...

May 30, 2013

Co-Conspirator Cells Contribute to Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is caused when cells grow out of control. But a new study finds there are previously unnoticed cells that help the cancer cells. The discovery of these co-conspirators, as they're being called, could eventually help predict, prevent and perhaps even stop melanoma before it spreads. One in five...

May 30, 2013

Plant Agents Promising in Preventing Skin Cancer

Combinations of plant substances are protective in suppressing damage that can lead to skin cancer, recent research from the University of Texas Health Center in Austin suggests. On the basis of our research, supplements and creams or sunscreens may be developed, tested in humans and then used to prevent skin...

May 30, 2013

Young Adults Raise Skin Cancer Risk with Sunburns, Indoor Tanning

Young adults are doing things that dangerously increase their risk of skin cancer, according to new reports for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2010, half of all adults ages 18 to 29, and 65 percent of white people in this age group, reported that they were sunburned...