News & Publications

MCC made it into the NY Times in the form of this fascinating medical mystery story. A ‘paraneoplastic syndrome’ is when a tumor causes a process to happen in the body indirectly, such as via an immune response to the tumor that attacks another part of the body (as happened here) or because the ...

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 ...

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...

The first-ever therapeutic vaccine trial for Merkel cell carcinoma is set to start in April 2022, based in Seattle. This will be a small trial in only eight patients to initially check safety and whether the immune response targeting the Merkel cell polyomavirus is indeed increased in these patients...

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.

"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...

The immune system plays an important role in preventing the development and progression of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). As such, immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy (like Pembrolizumab or Avelumab) has become an excellent option for patients with advanced MCC. This study aimed to identify clin...

This is a presentation given by Paul Ngheim to University of Washington’s Department of Immunology. It is a scientific, detailed summary of how our understanding of the role of the immune system in Merkel cell carcinoma has developed over the past decade. It highlights how our current immune thera...

This case report showed that a personalized and tumor-informed (‘bespoke’) test for cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) could predict MCC treatment response in an MCC patient treated with Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) and hypofractionated radiation (HRT).

This study presents updated findings from the JAVELIN Merkel 200 trial after more than 5 years of follow-up. It clearly shows that patients with metastatic MCC (mMCC) who previously experienced disease progression following chemotherapy had meaningful long-term overall survival, unlike for chemother...