Word: melanoma
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...alarming rate. The American Cancer Society predicts that in the U.S. this year, more than 600,000 new cases of skin malignancies will be diagnosed, most of them caused by excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun. Some 27,600 of those cases will be malignant melanoma, the deadliest type, which has been increasing 7% annually over the past decade and will kill 6,300 people this year. Most of the other skin cancers will be basal-cell and squamous-cell carcinomas, less lethal but still dangerous if not treated in time. Some 2,500 victims of these cancers...
...interesting things researchers at the UCLA medical center have discovered is that the environment of medical treatment can actually be enhanced if seriously ill patients can be kept free of depression. In a project involving 75 malignant-melanoma patients, it was learned that a direct connection exists between the mental state of the patient and the ability of the immune system to do its job. In a condition of emotional devastation, immune function is impaired. Conversely, liberation from depression and panic is frequently accompanied by an increase in the body's interleukins, vital substances in the immune system that help...
When Donald arrived for his first group-therapy session at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, he was in a wheelchair, suffering from malignant melanoma and severely depressed. But after he spent six months sharing stories and good times with other cancer patients and learning relaxation techniques, his mood had improved considerably -- and so had his condition. As his attitude brightened, an important change took place inside his body: an increase in the activity of his "natural killer cells," a crucial link in the immune system. By year's end, though he still had cancer, Donald was able to dance...
...elasticity and brings on premature wrinkling and sagging. Of greater concern, it causes as many as half a million new cases of skin cancer every year. Most of these are basal or squamous cell carcinomas, which have high cure rates. But solar radiation may be a cause of melanoma, which can be fatal. Ultraviolet light apparently weakens the immune system; after a severe sunburn, some people suffer outbreaks of oral herpes or other disorders. Excessive exposure aggravates cases of chicken pox and can be especially dangerous, even fatal, to victims of lupus...
...treatment using a type of cancer-fighting cell called TILs (tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes). He removes TILs from cancer patients and clones large quantities of the cells in the laboratory. When this army of cells is reinjected into the patients, their tumors can shrink significantly. In one experiment with metastatic melanoma patients, 60% of them benefited from the therapy. But Rosenberg still needs to know how the TILs move through the body and why they do not always work...