Melanoma, remission milestone

OrestesMendez said:

God Bless You

I just read your post, todays date is April 7th 2013 I hope your wife is still alive and Cancer free. I was originally diagnosed with Choroidial Melanoma in 2009 I had the radio active seed implant in June 25th 2009 the procedure did not work and I had my left eye removed in April 2010, I was Cancer free till about December of 2011 were I had a reocurring Melanoma in the same area were the eye was removed .I had surgery May 4th 2012 to remove that tumor and my next three Pet Scans were clear upto November 29th 2012 , I Just had another Pet scan March 18th 2013 and now the Cancer is back in multiple locations . I am getting ready to start a study drug its either gonna be temozolomide or AZD6244 my Melanoma mutation is Gnaq Mutation and I am hoping for a Miracle as well .God Bless You.

To Orestes, temozolomide is kind of old school, I believe, while to me the MEK inhibitor AZD6244 sounds like maybe a better bet.

You could also look at Yervoy (very expensive immune therapy) or valproic acid as systemic therapies or "adjuvant" therapies.

Also there have been very promising trials of IGF-1 inhibitors which drastically reduce growth. There's a drug in trials called IMC-A12, and another drug called picropodophyllin, which was in trials in Europe recently. I'm not sure if either would be available to you now, but I mention them because the IGF-1 pathway appears to be a very effective and low-toxicity means of targeting cancers.

There is busy mailing list for choroidal melanoma patients. I would highly recommend it if you haven't found it already. Google listserv and OCU-MEL to find the sign-up page.

... P.S. Celebrex (celecoxib) has well documented anticancer activity against melanoma. I personally would recommend that any cancer patient investigate it. It's not a cure, but it could plausibly slow down progression or improve the effect of other treatments.

OrestesMendez said:

Thanks

Thanks for all your great information I will be doing alot of research on the different options .I am getting ready to start a trial study that is either gonna be  temozolomide or

 AZD6244 its random so I do not know what they will start me on until im on it. I do know that they have told me that if it is temozolomide and it is not working for me than they will put me on the AZD6244 but since it is a trail I can't be on anything else including anytype of Radiation . I had a 5.9 cm tumor removed from my skull last year in May prior to that I had my eye removed in april of 2010 I have never been on any type of anti Cancer meds and the only Radiation I have had was 5  , 45 minute treatments of Cyber Nife in the area where the Tumor was removed my last clean petscan was November 29th 2012 The one I Just had on March 18th reveled the new Cancers 3.9 cm in my Nasal area a couple of 1cm ones in my liver one 2.6 cm on the outside of my liver a 1cm tumor on my left pelvic area a 1cm one on my spine and multiple ones mm in size spread around those general areas There are no Tumors in my Brain or in any other Organs  .How long have you been dealing with yours are you a Survivor or a HC provider ?

I was treated for ocular melanoma a couple of years ago. I'm in the high risk category but have not developed any mets.

Having mets outside of the liver is a tough situation, but my point in listing those drugs is to let you know that there are a lot of treatment options out there. I've never dealt with him, but most people on the mailing list I mentioned would probably tell you to ask your oncologist to get a consultation from Dr. Takami Sato in Philadelphia. He is THE expert in this area. Anyway, whatever you do, do it fast. The smaller and fewer the tumors are when you begin any treatment, the better.