Researchers Work to Improve Treatment for Uveal Melanoma

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Researchers at the Mayo Clinic are working to better understand and find treatment for uveal melanoma, also called melanoma of the eye.

Uveal melanoma is a type of cancer that involves one of the three parts of the eye that comprise the uvea: the iris, the ciliary body, and the choroid.

The researchers have developed organoid models, or 3D models grown from patient tissue, which accurately reflects a patient’s unique genetic and biological characteristics.

“When derived from a patient’s cancer tumor, an organoid will behave and respond to treatments outside the body in a lab (in vitro) just like the original tumor would inside the body (in vivo),” according to a Eureka Alert news release.

Let’s look further into this research and how it can impact Latinos and all people!

Striving for Improving Treatment and Patients Needs

A lack of representative human disease models has limited the translation of new and more effective treatments in uveal melanoma, the most common primary adult intraocular malignancy, according to the study.

Blurred vision, a change in vision, a dark spot on the iris or a change in the shape of the pupil may be symptoms of uveal melanoma, according to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

For 50% of patients, it metastasizes or spreads from one part of the body to another.

This often leads to a poor prognosis and average survival of less than two years.

“Unfortunately, current treatments for this condition often have limited effectiveness, leaving patients and their doctors with few options,” according to Eureka News.

The Mayo Clinic researchers were able to demonstrate that patient-derived organoid models were a feasible platform to identify and evaluate novel therapeutic targets and investigate differential, personalized drug response for uveal melanoma.

“Using these models as a foundation for drug testing will facilitate new treatment discoveries with higher success rates in clinical trials, ultimately translating to improved outcomes for patients with uveal melanoma,” said Dr. Lauren Dalvin, one of the lead researchers and ocular oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Scientists expect to increasingly use the approach of developing organoids to model diseases, track their progression, and identify and characterize potential treatments.

“Mayo Clinic researchers aim to develop organoids representing organs throughout the human body to track disease, screen drugs and regenerate tissues,” according the Eureka News. “This approach holds the promise of accelerating research in precision medicine and the search for cures in other areas of biomedical research.”

Latinos and Uveal Melanoma

While it isn’t completely clear how melanoma develops, there are risks for uveal (intraocular) melanoma, including:

• Having a fair complexion, which includes fair skin that freckles and burns easily, does not tan, or tans poorly.
• Blue or green or other light-colored eyes.
• Older age.
• Being White.

While Latinos may be not be at higher risk of uveal melanoma, they are still disproportionately impacted when it comes to survival rates of eye cancer.

When it comes to ocular and periocular cancer, “Spanish-Hispanic-Latino patients had significantly increased all-cause and cancer-specific mortality compared to their non-Spanish-Hispanic-Latino counterparts,” according to previous research.

Ways to prevent eye cancer include:

• Avoid exposure to direct sunlight.
• Use UV-protected sunglasses that wrap around the eye.
• Use sunglasses that block ultraviolet rays.
• Treat eye injury as soon as possible to prevent eye cancer.

Examining the Health of Your Community

Eye health is important and contributes to overall health.

But what about the health of your community?

Explore your local Health Equity Report Card from Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio and discover Latino-focused, local data.

Browse through a number of health-related topics including transportation, medical care, food, education and more.

Share your results with local leaders and health organizations to start important conversations and advocate for healthy change.

Get your Health Equity Report Card!