Although many new molecular and genetic discoveries have been made in the ocular melanoma field in the past few years, much more research is needed to more fully understand how some of these discoveries will impact effective treatments for patients. In the a recent review article: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/pri/2011/159421/, some of the molecular differences between ocular and cutaneous melanoma are outlined.
Although many new molecular and genetic discoveries have been made in the ocular melanoma field in the past few years, much more research is needed to more fully understand how some of these discoveries will impact effective treatments for patients. In the a recent review article: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/pri/2011/159421/, some of the molecular differences between ocular and cutaneous melanoma are outlined. Although this article is largely up-to-date and accurate, it doesn't mention the GNA11 mutation in ocular melanoma. As many of you will know, the general numbers are that about 50% of ocular melanoma has a mutation in GNAQ and another 30% has a mutation in GNA11. From early research, it looks like the molecular signaling is similar between these two mutations, but research is ongoing to learn how to effectively target these mutations, and, if targeting these is enough to halt disease– current thinking is that the GNAQ and GNA11 mutations are part of the solution, but likely not the complete solution (for example, researchers are now looking into the role of the newly identified mutation in BAP1 and how this may interact to cause metastasis). As you can see from this article, research in ocular melanoma is behind research in cutaneous melanoma and some of the ongoing areas of ocular melanoma specific research are mentioned in the Conclusion section of this article.
Please feel free to post thoughts, questions, or experiences with some of these treatments (i.e. many ocular melanoma patients have had experiences with MEK-inhibitors and new trials are opening for IGF1-R inhibitors and other targeted therapies as well)…. please feel free to ask questions and share your experiences….
Warmly,
Sara – CURE OM
