Vaginal Mucosal Melanoma

Sorry to hear about your sister's progression to stage 4. People who have Mucosal Melanoma should be tested for the C-Kit Mutation, if it tests positive then Gleevec may help her and it is low toxic compared to chemo drugs. You will need to get a tumor sample tested. Gleevec should be available in China as it is used for some other types of Cancer. 

best wishes

James

Sorry to hear about your sister's progression to stage 4. People who have Mucosal Melanoma should be tested for the C-Kit Mutation, if it tests positive then Gleevec may help her and it is low toxic compared to chemo drugs. You will need to get a tumor sample tested. Gleevec should be available in China as it is used for some other types of Cancer. 

best wishes

James

Sorry to hear about your sister's progression to stage 4. People who have Mucosal Melanoma should be tested for the C-Kit Mutation, if it tests positive then Gleevec may help her and it is low toxic compared to chemo drugs. You will need to get a tumor sample tested. Gleevec should be available in China as it is used for some other types of Cancer. 

best wishes

James

Full prescribing information is available, including clinical trial information, safety, dosing, drug-drug interactions, and contraindications.

On October 19, 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to pazopanib hydrochloride tablets (Votrient™, made by GlaxoSmithKline) for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/druginfo/fda-pazopanibhydrochloride

http://www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2009/2009_us_pressrelease_10039.htm

Apperently this is basicaly an an angiogenesis oral medicine that prevents the growth of new blood vessels to tumors.  It is currently in trials relating to melanoma.  

Full prescribing information is available, including clinical trial information, safety, dosing, drug-drug interactions, and contraindications.

On October 19, 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to pazopanib hydrochloride tablets (Votrient™, made by GlaxoSmithKline) for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/druginfo/fda-pazopanibhydrochloride

http://www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2009/2009_us_pressrelease_10039.htm

Apperently this is basicaly an an angiogenesis oral medicine that prevents the growth of new blood vessels to tumors.  It is currently in trials relating to melanoma.  

Full prescribing information is available, including clinical trial information, safety, dosing, drug-drug interactions, and contraindications.

On October 19, 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to pazopanib hydrochloride tablets (Votrient™, made by GlaxoSmithKline) for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/druginfo/fda-pazopanibhydrochloride

http://www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2009/2009_us_pressrelease_10039.htm

Apperently this is basicaly an an angiogenesis oral medicine that prevents the growth of new blood vessels to tumors.  It is currently in trials relating to melanoma.  

Here is the link to the Pazopanib and Paclitaxel (VEGF inihibitor and Chemo) at UCI. It is true that John Fruehauf, MD, PhD is setting very good results.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01107665

Good Luck

Here is the link to the Pazopanib and Paclitaxel (VEGF inihibitor and Chemo) at UCI. It is true that John Fruehauf, MD, PhD is setting very good results.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01107665

Good Luck

Here is the link to the Pazopanib and Paclitaxel (VEGF inihibitor and Chemo) at UCI. It is true that John Fruehauf, MD, PhD is setting very good results.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01107665

Good Luck

I am sorry to hear about your sister-in-law.  You are clearly a wonderful advocate working on her behalf.

You have had some excellent replies to your post, and I have little to add.  I would like to clarify a few things, however.

Melanoma is disease in which melanocytes become cancerous.  The mechanism by which this happens can vary widely, however.  Those mechanisms are grouped into several categories, so essentially melanoma is a cluster of a dozen or so different cancers.

Mucosal melanoma is rare.  Early in our formation melanocytes can migrate to some degree.  So while they are normally found in the skin, a few randome melanocytes can end up in the mucosal membranes or in the eye.  If those melanocytes become malignant you have mucosal or ocular (uveal) melanoma, respectively.

In melanoma of the skin, about half of patients have a BRAF mutation that causes a constant signaling to the cell to grow and divide.  Those patients are eligible to take Zelboraf (vemurafenib) to block the signaling of the mutated BRAF. BRAF mutation virtually never occurs in mucosal, uveal, or acral melanoma.

Similarly, KIT mutation virtually never occurs in cutaneous melanoma, but is fairly common in mucosal melanoma.  One study showed 91% of mucosal melanoma patients have an overepression of the c-KIT protein.  Interestingly, of that group only about 16% were found to have a mutation of the KIT gene that codes for c-KIT.  This is, I think, the difference between looking for overexpression of c-KIT and looking for an actual mutation of the KIT gene.  Jerry or others will likely have a better feel for what this distinction means in terms of treatment.  In general, though, if you have the mutation then treatment with a c-KIT inhibitor like Gleevec makes sense.

Hope this helps a bit.

Tim–MRF

I am sorry to hear about your sister-in-law.  You are clearly a wonderful advocate working on her behalf.

You have had some excellent replies to your post, and I have little to add.  I would like to clarify a few things, however.

Melanoma is disease in which melanocytes become cancerous.  The mechanism by which this happens can vary widely, however.  Those mechanisms are grouped into several categories, so essentially melanoma is a cluster of a dozen or so different cancers.

Mucosal melanoma is rare.  Early in our formation melanocytes can migrate to some degree.  So while they are normally found in the skin, a few randome melanocytes can end up in the mucosal membranes or in the eye.  If those melanocytes become malignant you have mucosal or ocular (uveal) melanoma, respectively.

In melanoma of the skin, about half of patients have a BRAF mutation that causes a constant signaling to the cell to grow and divide.  Those patients are eligible to take Zelboraf (vemurafenib) to block the signaling of the mutated BRAF. BRAF mutation virtually never occurs in mucosal, uveal, or acral melanoma.

Similarly, KIT mutation virtually never occurs in cutaneous melanoma, but is fairly common in mucosal melanoma.  One study showed 91% of mucosal melanoma patients have an overepression of the c-KIT protein.  Interestingly, of that group only about 16% were found to have a mutation of the KIT gene that codes for c-KIT.  This is, I think, the difference between looking for overexpression of c-KIT and looking for an actual mutation of the KIT gene.  Jerry or others will likely have a better feel for what this distinction means in terms of treatment.  In general, though, if you have the mutation then treatment with a c-KIT inhibitor like Gleevec makes sense.

Hope this helps a bit.

Tim–MRF

I am sorry to hear about your sister-in-law.  You are clearly a wonderful advocate working on her behalf.

You have had some excellent replies to your post, and I have little to add.  I would like to clarify a few things, however.

Melanoma is disease in which melanocytes become cancerous.  The mechanism by which this happens can vary widely, however.  Those mechanisms are grouped into several categories, so essentially melanoma is a cluster of a dozen or so different cancers.

Mucosal melanoma is rare.  Early in our formation melanocytes can migrate to some degree.  So while they are normally found in the skin, a few randome melanocytes can end up in the mucosal membranes or in the eye.  If those melanocytes become malignant you have mucosal or ocular (uveal) melanoma, respectively.

In melanoma of the skin, about half of patients have a BRAF mutation that causes a constant signaling to the cell to grow and divide.  Those patients are eligible to take Zelboraf (vemurafenib) to block the signaling of the mutated BRAF. BRAF mutation virtually never occurs in mucosal, uveal, or acral melanoma.

Similarly, KIT mutation virtually never occurs in cutaneous melanoma, but is fairly common in mucosal melanoma.  One study showed 91% of mucosal melanoma patients have an overepression of the c-KIT protein.  Interestingly, of that group only about 16% were found to have a mutation of the KIT gene that codes for c-KIT.  This is, I think, the difference between looking for overexpression of c-KIT and looking for an actual mutation of the KIT gene.  Jerry or others will likely have a better feel for what this distinction means in terms of treatment.  In general, though, if you have the mutation then treatment with a c-KIT inhibitor like Gleevec makes sense.

Hope this helps a bit.

Tim–MRF