News & Publications
The latest news and publications about Merkel cell carcinoma and merkelcell.org.
In addition to developing another 11 Merkel cell carcinoma cell lines for research, this team from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has helped unravel how MCC hides from the immune system. While it has been known for over a decade that MCC suppresses proteins called “HLA Class I” (necessary for the ...
Read more →26 experts from 13 countries participated in writing these European guidelines that summarize optimal management of Merkel cell carcinoma. These recommendations replace a set of guidelines that was last published in 2015. The guidelines are designed to provide input on the management of all stages ...
Read more →This publication reflects expert opinion among experts in one country (Italy) as to optimal management of MCC. Although areas of controversy were identified as expected, there was high agreement that immune therapy for MCC makes sense in advanced cases, and that radiation therapy plays an important ...
Read more →The standard (“conventional”) way to give radiation for Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) involves about 25 treatments given over a 5-week period. Because MCC patients are often older and may live quite far from a radiation therapy (RT) facility, a conventional course can be difficult to accomplish. F...
Read more →This study looked at 77 MCC patients who were diagnosed and treated in Europe. Thirty of the 77 patients were immune suppressed because of medications they take to prevent rejection of a transplanted organ (often a kidney). As has been found in some prior studies, a higher fraction of the immune sup...
Read more →This is a study of over 444,000 persons who receive immune suppression medications to prevent the rejection of a transplanted kidney, heart, or other organ. The authors found an inceased risk of multiple cancers that are caused by sunlight and or viruses. The chance of developing Merkel cell carcino...
Read more →Patients treated for Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) face a five-year recurrence rate of 40%—markedly higher than the recurrence rates for melanoma and other skin cancers, according to research recently published in JAMA Dermatology. Additionally, in the study cohort of more than 600 patients, 95% of ...
Read more →One of the issues most often raised in the field of Merkel cell carcinoma is 'why is there no mouse model for this polymavirus-driven cancer?' The study by Verhaegen and colleagues answers that question, after well over a decade of effort by over a dozen labs attempting to do this. Simply put, it wa...
Read more →We have also seen so many cases of delayed diagnosis of MCC due to unfounded fears of contracting COVID by visiting a physician’s office. It is important to seek appropriate medical care, even in these tricky times, as this dramatic example demonstrates.
Read more →"These data from 161 MCC patients in Poland very closely mirror what is seen in US studies that include careful analyses of management and disease recurrence. Specifically, 38% of MCC patients experienced a recurrence, and the fraction of patients whose sentinel lymph node biopsy was positive was on...
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