Skin Cancer Research and Clinical Trials

Fred Hutch researchers studying melanoma focus on ways to harness the immune system to fight the disease, including the use of a patient’s own melanoma-attacking immune cells, called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or TILs, to better target their tumor. Other skin cancer clinical trials for people with melanoma include studies of checkpoint inhibitors and experimental immune-stimulating therapies.

With collaborators at the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children's Cancer Consortium, our scientists developed a blood-based screening test to detect Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) recurrence. This test can spare patients from more invasive screening. These researchers also led pivotal studies showing that checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy, can effectively stop or reverse disease in many patients with MCC. These findings transformed treatment standards for MCC.

Fred Hutch scientists continue to explore the use of immunotherapy to improve treatment for people with MCC. This includes studies of checkpoint inhibitors and the use of a patient’s own immune cells engineered to recognize the tumors. They also are studying the immune system’s response to the Merkel cell polyomavirus. Insights from these studies may give new insights into the use of immunotherapy in other types of tumors, too.