Posts by: Magdalena Kegel

Magdalena Kegel

Magdalena holds an MSc in Pharmaceutical Bioscience and an interdisciplinary PhD merging the fields of psychiatry, immunology and neuropharmacology. Her previous research focused on metabolic and immunologic changes in psychotic disorders. She is now focusing on science writing, allowing her to culture her passion for medical science and human health.

April 6, 2017

Opdivo, Yervoy Combo Improved Survival in Advanced Melanoma Phase 3 Trial

News

Opdivo (nivolumab) in combination with Yervoy (ipilimumab), as well as Opdivo alone, outperformed Yervoy monotherapy in terms of overall survival in a Phase 3 clinical trial of previously untreated patients ... Read more

March 28, 2017March 28, 2017

Expert Panel Recommends National Guidelines to Improve Melanoma Screening

News

A group of experts have outlined recommendations for multiple melanoma screening to initiate the implementation of a national consensus on screening procedures. Currently there is no national screening guideline for melanoma, ... Read more

February 9, 2017February 9, 2017

Keytruda Benefits Patients with Rare Mucosal Melanoma, Trials Show

News

Updates from clinical trials of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for melanoma show that besides its known benefits for people with typical melanoma, the treatment is also effective against mucosal melanoma — a rare ... Read more

February 2, 2017

Melanoma Cells’ Skin Neighbors Can Stoke Tumor Expansion, Study Shows

News

A type of skin cell that is interspersed with the skin cells from which malignant melanoma arises can promote melanoma tumor expansion, a study says. Melanoma-related skin cells are called ... Read more

January 10, 2017

Experimental Compound Has Great Potential to Prevent Melanoma Metastases

News

Researchers have identified a compound that could prevent malignant melanoma cells from spreading throughout the body. If the compound is successfully developed into a human drug, it has the potential ... Read more

December 20, 2016

Treatment Blocking Melanoma Metastasis May Be on the Horizon

News

A treatment preventing cancer metastases may become a reality within a decade, as researchers pinpointed a molecule driving metastasis formation in several cancers, including malignant melanoma. But the findings also ... Read more

October 25, 2016October 25, 2016

Success of Melanoma Immunotherapy Boosted by Cells Grown in Antioxidant, Study Finds

News

Adoptive cell transfer — a type of immunotherapy when a patient’s own T-cells are harvested, genetically modified, and expanded in the lab — is much more efficient in melanoma if researchers make a ... Read more

October 13, 2016

Combo Therapy for Advanced Melanoma, Tafinlar and Mekinist, Seen to Improve 3-Year Survival

News

Combination treatment with Novartis‘ Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekinist (trametinib) improved survival of advanced myeloma patients at three years, compared to patients treated with a BRAF blocker. These findings emerged as ... Read more

October 4, 2016October 4, 2016

Ability of Yervoy to Treat Melanoma May Depend on Mutations in Tumor Cells

News

Melanoma tumors harboring mutations that inactivate interferon (IFN)-gamma signaling are resistant to treatment with the checkpoint inhibitor Yervoy (ipilimumab), researchers report. The findings may be used to predict which patients may ... Read more

September 8, 2016

Autophagy Protein May Serve as Melanoma Prognosis Biomarker, Researchers Find

News

Researchers have discovered a protein that can be used to predict the prognosis and response to treatment of malignant melanoma, a process that is currently done primarily by observing features of the ... Read more

June 14, 2016June 14, 2016

Brake Release in Natural Killer (NK) Cells Could Boost Cancer Defenses

News

While many scientists have focused on how to make adaptive immune T-cells better fight cancer, Drs. Sandra Nicholson and Nicholas Huntington looked to a subtype of innate immune cells specialized in eliminating ... Read more

May 24, 2016May 24, 2016

Pembrolizumab Thwarts Advanced Melanoma, Study Reports

News

In the largest study ever performed in patients with advanced melanoma, researchers showed that the immunotherapy medication pembrolizumab (Keytruda) put the cancer in regression with treatment effects lasting up to three years. ... Read more

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016

Gene Expression Test of Metastasis Risk in Melanoma Patients Validated in Independent Study

Melanoma, News

An independent study of Castle Biosciences’ DecisionDx-Melanoma gene expression profile test, used to identify the risk of metastasis in patients with stage 1 or 2 cutaneous melanoma, verified the accuracy ... Read more

April 12, 2016April 12, 2016

Targeted Checkpoint Blocking Therapies Not Yet an Effective Melanoma Treatment, Cancer Expert Says

News

In a talk at the recent HemOnc Today’s Melanoma and Cutaneous Malignancies meeting, Christian Blank, group leader of the division of immunology at Netherlands Cancer Institute, presented his views of checkpoint blocking therapies. ... Read more

January 19, 2016January 19, 2016

Advanced Melanoma Combination Treatment Found Superior to Monotherapy

News

A study from the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) shows that combination therapy with dabrafenib and trametinib in advanced melanoma is superior to treatment with trametinib alone. Since 2013, dabrafenib ... Read more