Our research on skin cancer

What we’re doing now

Our researchers are developing new ways to prevent, treat and diagnose skin cancer.

For example, Dr Claudia Wellbrock in Manchester is studying how melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer, starts to grow and then spreads to other parts of the body. This knowledge could make current treatments more effective and lead to new therapies.

In Dundee, Professor Irene Leigh and her team are focusing on the biology and causes of a type of non-melanoma skin cancer. Her work is uncovering how it develops, leading to new ways to prevent and treat the disease.

Dr Victoria Sanz-Moreno in London is investigating how melanoma cells move and spread throughout the body, to find new ways to stop skin cancer in its tracks. 

And Dr Pippa Corrie in Cambridge is leading a national clinical trial to see whether a drug that slows blood vessel growth can prevent melanoma coming back after surgery.

How we’ve made a difference so far

Here are just a few examples of our achievements. We…

• Revealed that a gene called BRAF is faulty in around half of all melanomas, paving the way for the development of the new drug vemurafenib (Zelboraf) – the first new melanoma treatment for 30 years.
• Issued our first warning on sun exposure and skin cancer back in 1935, and continue to raise awareness of how people can protect themselves from skin cancer and spot early signs of the disease.
• Successfully lobbied MPs to pass a new law restricting sunbeds to over-18s in England and Wales, protecting a generation of children from the damage sunbeds can cause.
• Carried out lab research on a gene called Hedgehog, paving the way for the development of a drug called vismodegib (Erivedge) for people with a particular type of non-melanoma skin cancer.
• Discovered how certain strains of the common human papillomavirus (HPV) can act together with UV light to cause skin cancer, and showed that HPV can help to trigger some types of skin cancer in people with a weakened immune system. Researchers are now building on this knowledge to find new ways to tackle the disease.
• Helped to establish better recommendations for removing melanoma, reducing the chance that the cancer will come back after surgery.