Skin Cancer Awareness Month: 2021 Immunotherapy Research Updates

Garry P. Nolan, PhD, and his research team at Stanford are analyzing the cellular composition and architecture in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, which will aid in designing new therapies to combat this cancer. We’re proud to fund scientists like CRI Fellow Julia Kennedy-Darling, PhD, in his lab to accelerate the next breakthroughs in skin cancer.

This May for Skin Cancer Awareness Month, we look at new research, new treatments, and how we’re working toward a future immune to skin cancer.

Understanding the Skin Microbiome

CRI Fellow Alexandria C. Wells, PhD, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is working to characterize exactly how the collection of microbes found on the skin might be able to help protect against cancers caused by viruses.

Skin Cancer Patient Story

In June 2017, Fiona was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma of unknown origin. After chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, she began treatment with immunotherapy and could feel her remaining tumors shrink. Today, her cancer is under control.

Read Fiona’s Skin Cancer Story

Skin Cancer Scientist Spotlight

CRI CLIP Investigator Shadmehr Demehri, MD, PhD, is investigating an immune-related factor found on the skin that appears to protect against the early stages of skin cancer development. His research should help establish the role of immune activation in successfully treating cancer at an early stage.

Discover Shadmehr’s Skin Cancer Research

Immunotherapy for Skin Cancer Information Update

On February 9, the FDA approved cemiplimab-rwlc (Libtayo), a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor, as the first immunotherapy for use in a subset of patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma. As the research and treatment landscape evolves, we keep our information up to date.

VIEW skin cancer UPDATE

Find a Skin Cancer Clinical Trial

A variety of new and promising cancer immunotherapy treatments are only available to patients in clinical trials. Help speed the development of potentially lifesaving drugs. Discover trials for which you or a loved one may be eligible with the CRI Immunotherapy Clinical Trial Finder.

FIND A cancer clinical TRIAL

Support Skin Cancer Research

CRI-SU2C Investigator Dr. Antoni Ribas of UCLA recently led a study that sheds light on how interferon-gamma guides the treatment response to immune checkpoint blockade in people with advanced melanoma. The findings open the door to further test interferon-gamma genes as a way to predict a response to immunotherapy and for exploring new combination treatments that induce interferon signaling that can be expanded to more patients. This Skin Cancer Awareness Month, support lifesaving cancer immunotherapy research.

Donate to skin cancer research