Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

An uncommon mutation of the BRAF gene in melanoma patients has been found to respond to MEK inhibitor drugs, providing a rationale for routine screening and therapy in melanoma patients who harbor the BRAF L597 mutation. The new study by co-first-authors Kimberly Brown Dahlman, Ph.D., Junfeng Xia, Ph.D., and Katherine Hutchinson, B.S., Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center [...]

Therapies targeted to a specific mutation in the BRAF gene can significantly reduce tumor burden in metastatic melanoma. But these therapies are not suitable for melanomas lacking the mutation, and even tumors carrying the BRAF mutation eventually become resistant to those therapies. Using human melanoma tumors implanted into mice, Ann Richmond, Ph.D., and colleagues assessed [...]

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center cordially invites you and your guests to join us for Going for the Gold: Living Well through Cancer! Due to an overwhelming response, we have closed registration. We are thrilled to have so many people attend! Date: Saturday, June 30, 2012 Time: 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Where: Vanderbilt University Student Life Center 310 [...]

Melanoma patients who are treated with new oral drugs inhibiting the BRAF gene are at increased risk for developing secondary skin cancers. A new study co-authored by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators and researchers from 12 other cancer centers discovered clues that may explain what is triggering these secondary cancers. VICC’s Igor Puzanov, M.D., assistant professor [...]

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center melanoma experts will hold a patient education symposium for melanoma survivors and caregivers on Saturday, March 10, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Preston Research Building, Room 898J. The free symposium, co-sponsored by the Melanoma Research Foundation, is open to all melanoma patients, no matter where they received their treatment. [...]

Investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and 12 other centers in the United States and Australia have found that a new drug for patients with metastatic melanoma nearly doubled median overall survival. More than half of patients who were treated with the novel drug vemurafenib, known commercially as Zelboraf, responded to treatment and experienced an impressive [...]

Investigators at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and several other centers may be one step closer to finding out why some melanoma patients relapse after treatment with a promising new drug. Approximately half of all patients with the most deadly form of skin cancer have a mutation in the BRAF gene in their tumors that drives the [...]

Jeffrey Sosman, M.D., professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), has been named to a melanoma research Dream Team of cancer investigators supported by Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) and the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA). Sosman is among the Dream Team’s principal investigators who will work closely to write the genomic-driven clinical trials and [...]

Many times those going through cancer treatment and even those who have finished have questions about eating a healthy diet. Melissa Brown, a nutrition coach at the Vanderbilt Center for Integrative Health, describes different foods that have cancer-fighting agents in them as well as easy meal techniques. If you are interested in learning more about [...]

The RENEW: Gentle Movement Classes are part of the Vanderbilt Cancer Wellness Program and are for adults going through cancer treatment as well as those who have finished. Karen Dyer-Klein, an exercise specialist at the Vanderbilt Dayani Center, describes the types of workouts available, which include Ai Chi (aquatic exercise) on Mondays at 3:15 p.m., [...]