Immunotherapy against skin cancer
An AMC researcher has discovered that seeded melanoma, an agressive form of skin cancer that is difficult to treat, can be fought by artificially inducing a different skin condition: vitiligo.
In this auto-immune desease the body's defence system attacks pigment cells (melanocytes) in the body. When they are broken down, white blotches form on the skin. In melanoma there is overgrowth of melanocytes; breaking them down is advantageous. Using the harmful (for causing vitiligo) skin whitener monobenzon this breaking down by the immune system can be stimulated.
This has been discovered by AMC PhD student Jasper van den Boorn, who will defend his thesis on 6 July. Van den Boorn invented this new form of immunotherapy by the name of MIC, that has shown good results in mice with melanoma.
