PURPOSE To investigate the expression of the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) with special focus on its role in cell growth in uveal melanoma. METHODS Paraffin material from 36 clinicopathologically well characterized cases of primary uveal melanomas (18 of which had metastasized to the liver) with more than 15 years' follow-up was used for immunohistochemical analysis. In the e...

BACKGROUND Because uveal melanoma is the most common primary malignant intraocular tumor in adults and carries a significant risk of metastases, which are mostly unresponsive to available systemic therapy, researchers have been searching for prognostic indicators to identify patients at increased risk for developing such metastasis. METHODS The purpose of this study is to describe recent adva...

purpose : choroidal melanoma is the most common primary ocular malignancy among the adult population. authors investigated the clinical findings, histopathologic features, types of retinal detachment and the precise anatomic origin of enucleated eyes for primary ocular malignant melanoma in shiraz university of medical sciences (sums) hospitals between 1990 and 2005. methods : this was a cross ...

PURPOSE To assess the safety and efficacy of dendritic cell vaccination in metastatic uveal melanoma. DESIGN Interventional case series. METHODS We analyzed 14 patients with metastatic uveal melanoma treated with dendritic cell vaccination. Patients with metastatic uveal melanoma received at least 3 vaccinations with autologous dendritic cells, professional antigen-presenting cells loaded w...

Uveal melanoma arises from melanocytes located in the uveal tract of the eye and is the most common primary intraocular tumor in adults. Metastatic liver disease is the overwhelming cause of death in uveal melanoma patients, with almost 50% of patients developing liver metastases up to 15 years after diagnosis. Most of these patients do not present with any evidence of overt metastasis at the t...

Metastases of melanoma to the urinary bladder are infrequent. Even rarer are metastases to the urinary bladder from uveal melanoma, with only 3 cases published in the literature so far. Herein we present a case of a 77-year-old male patient who presented with metastatic melanoma to the urinary bladder. The patient's history included the diagnoses of uveal melanoma treated with radiation 25 year...

Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most frequent intraocular malignancy in adults, affecting iris, choroid, and ciliary bodies [...]

Uveal melanoma patients with metastatic disease usually die within one year, emphasizing an urgent need to develop new treatment strategies for this cancer. MEK inhibitors improve survival in cutaneous melanoma patients but show only modest efficacy in metastatic uveal melanoma patients. In this study, we screened for growth factors that elicited resistance in newly characterized metastatic uve...

Animal models serve as powerful tools for investigating the pathobiology of cancer, identifying relevant pathways, and developing novel therapeutic agents. They have facilitated rapid scientific progress in many tumor entities. However, for establishing a powerful animal model of uveal melanoma fundamental challenges remain. To date, no animal model offers specific genetic attributes as well as...

The present study aimed to investigate, as a follow-up of microarray profiling, the expression of the lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsin S and that of its endogenous inhibitor cystatin C in the most common primary intraocular tumor in adults, uveal melanoma. The expression pattern unveiled was characterized by a relative increase in the active form of the elastolytic and collagenolytic cathe...