Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer
Ruth Halaban, PhD, Principal Investigator
Senior Research Scientist
Yale University School of Medicine
Department of Dermatology
P.O. Box: 208059
15 York St., HRT 610
New Haven, CT 06520-8059
Tel: 203-785-4352
Fax: 203-785-7637
The Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer (YSPORE) is a multidisciplinary, clinically translational program focused on melanoma and basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Melanoma is the 5th most common cancer, constituting 5% of total cancer incidence. It is highly devastating, because there is no effective therapy once the disease has spread beyond the primary site. Non-melanoma skin cancers (basal and squamous cell carcinomas) are the most common form of all cancers. They represent nearly one half of all newly diagnosed malignancies (approximately one million cases in the USA every year).
The focus of the Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer (YSPORE) is on risk assessment, diagnosis/prognosis and development of patient-tailored therapy. The studies are on the following areas of translational applications:
- Environmental and genetic factors in the etiology of early onset BCC, the results of which can lead to behavioral modification through national guidelines for preventive intervention
- Tumor markers and targets for melanoma therapy
- Immune-tolerance in melanoma and developing novel immunological therapy
- Serological tests to evaluate tumor load and responses to therapy in melanoma patients
- Comprehensive databases for skin cancers that includes specimen tracking, clinical information, high throughput proteomics and genomics data for to facilitate immediate patient evaluation and selection for therapy
- Support and services to clinicians and basic scientists engaged in testing tumor markers and new translational activities.
http://www.med.yale.edu/dermatology/spore/
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