Simon Roy, M.D. M.H.S, Principal Investigator at the Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, has been awarded a competitive grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, valued at $800,000 USD, to investigate why immunotherapy so often fails in patients with acral melanoma, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors, drugs that help the immune system recognize and attack cancer, have transformed outcomes for many patients with melanoma. Acral melanoma, however, remains much more difficult to treat. This distinct subtype develops on the palms, soles, and under the nails and represents a particularly important form of melanoma among Black, Asian, and Hispanic patients.
Dr. Roy’s project, “Targeting BRD4 isoform dysregulation to overcome immune exclusion in acral melanoma” will investigate how changes involving the protein BRD4. This protein helps regulate how cells activate different gene programs, and it may contribute to the way acral melanoma interacts with and evades the immune system. BRD4 exists in different forms, or isoforms, whose individual roles in acral melanoma remain poorly understood.
To read more please visit: GCI researcher Simon Roy Receives V Foundation Grant to Target Immunotherapy Resistance in Acral Melanoma | Goodman cancer Institute