CURE OM Team Award Earmarks a Significant Milestone for the Uveal Melanoma Population
WASHINGTON , Feb. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) recently announced the winners of the inaugural CURE OM Options Bring Hope Team Science Award: Bruce Ksander, PhD from the Schepens Eye Research Institute; Rizwan Haq MD, PhD from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Margarete Karg, PhD from Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. The collaborative research project is titled, "Identification of molecular pathways that drive uveal melanoma metastasis." The goal of the team's research is to determine the main factors that drive uveal melanoma (UM) to spread and specifically target the liver, with the hope that this research may guide the development of effective therapeutic interventions. Uveal melanoma is a type of ocular melanoma (OM) and is the most common type of eye cancer in adults that constitutes around 5 of all melanomas. In about half of all UM cases, the disease will spread to other parts of the body. When this occurs, it is almost always fatal.
In early 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tebentafusp-tebn (Kimmtrak), the first treatment to be FDA- approved for metastatic UM. The treatment is limited to HLA-A* 02:01- positive adult patients with unresectable or metastatic UM. Because approximately 45% of individuals are HLA-A*02:01positive in the United States and Europe, this leaves a significant number of patients with UM unable to be treated with tebentafusp-tebn. The CURE OM Options Bring Hope Team Science Award is made in honor of OM patient and advocate, Lindsay Miller Zubeck, and is generously funded by the family and friends of the Zubeck and Miller families along with the fantastic OM community. Based on their personal experience and frustration, Lindsay and her family were motivated to support research for all patients with UM, not limited by HLA type. "This is an inspiring example of the power of patients and their families and the impact they have on the OM field. Because of Lindsay and her family, research will advance to support all UM patients. It is extremely important for the UM community to work collaboratively and across disciplines to improve the lives of patients and their families," said Dr. Sara Selig who, together with her husband Dr, Gregg Stracks, himself an OM patient, founded the Community United for Research and Education of Ocular Melanoma (CURE OM) initiative under the Melanoma Research Foundation umbrella.
The CURE OM Options Bring Hope Team Science Award intends to support an interdisciplinary research team who is researching treatment options for metastatic UM patients not limited by HLA type. Co- principal investigator Rizwan Haq, MD, PhD posits, "Our team is honored and humbled to be awarded the CURE OM Options Bring Hope Team Science Award. We are inspired by the family and patient community who funded this grant and believe this type of funding is critical to advance patient outcomes in UM. Our goal is to determine the main factors that drive uveal melanoma to spread beyond the eye to the liver and to identify ways to stop this spread. We are pleased to come together as an interdisciplinary team to improve outcomes for UM patients."
The research team is helping to plan and will present their work at the upcoming CURE OM Eyes on a Cure: Ocular Melanoma Patient and Caregiver Symposium held May 3-5 in Boston, MA. Registration for this event will soon be open. To learn more, visit here.
To learn more about the CURE OM Options Bring Hope Team Science Award, read here.
About the Melanoma Research Foundation
The Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) is the largest independent organization devoted to melanoma. Committed to the support of medical research to develop effective treatments and eventually a cure for melanoma, the MRF also educates patients and physicians about the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous melanoma and the melanoma rare subtypes. The MRF is a dedicated advocate for the melanoma community, helping to raise awareness of this disease and the need for a cure. The MRF's website is the premier source for melanoma information seekers. More information is available at www.melanoma.org.
About the MRF's CURE OM initiative
Ocular melanoma (OM) develops in the eye and is the most common form of eye cancer in adults and the second most common type of melanoma. Approximately 2,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year. In about half of all OM cases, the disease will spread to other parts of the body. When this occurs, it is almost always fatal. Visit www.cureom.org to learn more about the Melanoma Research Foundation's OM initiative, CURE OM (Community United for Research and Education of Ocular Melanoma), which was established by an OM patient and caregiver in 2011 to accelerate research, find new and effective treatment options and to increase awareness, education and support of patients, clinicians and researchers.
Media Contact
James Merrick, Melanoma Research Foundation, 1 (202) 347-9675, [email protected], www.melanoma.org
SOURCE Melanoma Research Foundation
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