Understanding Uveal Melanoma
- Katie Couric was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2022. She lost several family members to cancer, including her first husband and sister. Her breast cancer treatment included a lumpectomy and radiation. She’s used her experiences with cancer to become an advocate for the disease, including undergoing a colonoscopy on national television.
- Now, following her friend’s eye cancer diagnosis of Uveal melanoma, she’s urging everyone to get their eye’s checked.
- Uveal Melanoma is a rare cancer that is found in the middle layer of the eye. About 1,500 to 2,000 people are diagnosed with it every year. And even after a first round of treatment, for about half of those diagnosed, the disease returns this time spreading to the liver.
- Tebentafusp (Kimmtrak) was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat some people with melanoma of the eye, also known as ocular melanoma or uveal melanoma, whose cancer has spread or is not able to be treated with surgery. These patients previously had no approved treatment options.
- Other ways to treat Uveal Melanoma, according to the Melanoma Research Alliance, consist of radiation therapy, surgery, surgery, laser therapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy.
The 67-year-old founder of Katie Couric Media, who battled early-stage (stage 1A) breast cancer two years ago, understand the importance of support through a health journey, so it’s no surprise to see her recent Instagram post, featuring a photo of her sitting in the hospital alongside her friend and a push for others to get their eyes checked.
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She concluded. “Cherie is part of a clinical trial—another reason it’s so important to support cancer research!!! She’s in the hospital right now. Please send her lots of [heart emoji]s and healing thoughts. I love her and this will make her day!!!! Thank you!!! Xoxoxo.”
In the sweet image Couric shared on her social media page, the iconic TV host and mom of two, is seen donning an eye patch on her left eye while hugging her friend, who also has an eye patch on her left eye,
Shortly after Couric posted the photo, she took to her Instagram story to share an update video from Neve herself.
In the short clip, featuring Neve post surgery, the singer, wearing a white bandage over her left eye, explains, “I’m out. I’m awake. They brought me down early, so I’m a little ahead of schedule. I’ve got a new patch on.
“But they told me it all went very well and I’m going to be going home very soon. And I just want to make sure I’m good.”
She happily said, “They just tested me for radioactive-ness … put this thing over my body and it gave me a reading and I’m clear of radioactive material.”
Neve jokingly added, “But they said I’m still electric,” and proceeded to recite some lyrics of Marcia Griffith’s and Bunny Wailer’s song “Electric Boogie,” saying, “She’s electric … boogie woogie woogie.”
She closed off her video message by giving a kiss to her friends, family, and fans, saying, “I love you guys.”
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More Resources On Melanoma
- ‘I Have Very Pale Skin And Am VERY Worried About Deadly Melanoma: How Often Should I Be Screened?’
- ‘A Game Changer’: New Combination Immunotherapy for Advanced Melanoma Offers More Options For Patients
- A Biopsy of Your Mole Doesn’t Mean You Have Melanoma
- Be Aware of the Side Effects of Targeted Therapy for Melanoma
- Examining Your Skin for Melanoma: Remember ABCDE
- How is Melanoma Treated After Surgery? The Landscape of Therapies Explained
- Melanoma Awareness: Yes, You Still Need to Protect Your Skin In The Winter
Advances in Uveal Melanoma Treatment
For decades there has been no change or advancement in treatment for those diagnosed with metastatic uveal melanoma. But thankfully, a new kind of immunotherapy recently developed by biotechnology company Immunocore is changing the standard for what survival looks like.
Uveal Melanoma is a rare cancer that is found in the middle layer of the eye. About 1,500 to 2,000 people are diagnosed with it every year. And even after a first round of treatment, for about half of those diagnosed, the disease returns this time spreading to the liver.
Dr. Mohammed Dar, the Chief Medical Officer at Immunocore, On New Breakthrough Treatment For Metastatic Uveal Melanoma Called KIMMTRAK
SurvivorNet previously spoke with Dr. Mohammed Dar, the Chief Medical Officer at Immunocore, to understand their new breakthrough treatment for metastatic uveal melanoma called KIMMTRAK (molecular name tebentafusp-tebn).
The treatment is a weekly immunotherapy that triggers the T-cells in your immune system to fight uveal melanoma tumor cells. With a 50% increase in survival for patients, it’s the first medication ever that has shown increased survival rates for the disease and it does so in a really novel way.
RELATED: How The FDA’s Approval of a New Immunotherapy Improves The Treatment of Eye Cancer
“What we did was to look at a simple blood test, which looks at the presence of tumor DNA,” Dr. Dar told SurvivorNet at the ASCO Annual Meeting. “What we found was that by week nine, among these patients who by CAT scans or MRI, there was no improvement in the size of their lesions, around 45% of patients had complete clearance of the tumor DNA in their bloodstream.”
So, to be clear, after taking KIMMTRAK for nine weeks, the lesions or tumors in these patients had not shrunk or disappeared. But the blood test showed that the tumor DNA was gone.
“When we looked at the survival of these patients who cleared their ctDNA blood, these are the patients who had the longest survival,” Dr. Dar said.
Could measuring tumor DNA over tumor shrinkage on skin be a new way of measuring treatment success rates? Dr. Dar thinks it is a possibility. And with the success of KIMMTRAK, he is very excited for future advancements in treatment for the disease.
“Historically, nothing had moved the needle, so no one really focused on it and now it’s shed light that there is actually hope,” Dr. Dar said. “There’s more treatments that people are now evaluating for metastatic uveal melanoma. So it’s a great time for research and development.”
KIMMTRAK is FDA-approved and to be eligible, a patient must be diagnosed with metastatic uveal melanoma or ocular melanoma. A patient also has to do a blood test to see if they have a special marker on the surface of their tumor cells called an HLA Allele.
Immunocore also announced at ASCO that they are expanding their research to see if KIMMTRAK could also be used to treat the most common melanoma skin melanoma or cutaneous melanoma. The new study will be launched in the United States and Europe.
Tebentafusp (Kimmtrak) was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat some people with melanoma of the eye, also known as ocular melanoma or uveal melanoma, whose cancer has spread or is not able to be treated with surgery. These patients previously had no approved treatment options.
Dr. Jeffrey Weber, NYU Langone Health oncologist and melanoma specialist told SurvivorNet at the time that the approval is a “game-changer,” since the options went from nothing to something that has been shown effective.
Ocular melanoma can be difficult to diagnose since it often develops on part of the eye that can’t be seen. While most people don’t experience symptoms, those that do may find a dark spot on the iris (the colored part of the eye) or conjunctiva (the tissue covering the white of the eye) or experience blurred or distorted vision, a blind spot in side vision or the sensation of flashing lights. Ocular melanoma is often detected during a routine eye exam.
RELATED: Eye Cancer is Rare, But The Symptoms Are Not Always Obvious; Know What to Look For
“Uveal melanoma is a devastating disease that has historically resulted in death within a year of metastasis for our patients,” Dr. John Kirkwood, director of the Melanoma Center at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, said in a statement.
“The approval of (tebentafusp-tebn) represents a major paradigm shift in the treatment of metastatic uveal melanoma, and for the first time offers hope to those with this aggressive form of cancer.”
Other ways to treat Uveal Melanoma, according to the Melanoma Research Alliance, are:
- Radiation therapy – The most common treatment for uveal melanoma.
- Surgery: An possible option for small tumors that have not spread beyond the eye.
- Laser therapy: Laser therapy, using a high-energy beam of light to destroy cancer cells.
- Chemotherapy: An uncommon treatment for uveal melanoma, but it may help for advanced cases that have metastasized.
- Immunotherapy: A type of treatment using the body’s immune system to fight cancer. This may be used for advanced cases of Uveal melanoma.
What Is a Clinical Trial?
A clinical trial, which Katie Couric’s friend is currently in, is a research study involving volunteers that looks into using new drugs or therapies. The goal of these studies is to test if new treatments are safe and effective.
Clinical trials can be an option for people with cancer at many points during the treatment process. Your doctor may have spoken with you about possibly enrolling in a trial if you have advanced disease or if there’s a drug that’s currently considered investigational that may work better than the standard for you.
Clinical Trials Can be Life-Saving for Some
A lot of patients may feel uncomfortable about the thought of participating in a trial, but the trials can provide amazing opportunities for patients. For one thing, they give patients access to a bevy of new drugs that are currently being developed by pharmaceutical companies.
Things to Consider
In the U.S., all new drugs have to go through clinical trials before the FDA will approve them. In addition to being potentially live-saving for patients, these trials are also necessary to advance science and cancer treatments.
However, participating in a trial comes with risks as well, and it’s important to talk to your doctor about this before getting involved in one. Some risks to consider are:
- The risk of harm and/or side effects due to experimental treatments
- Researchers may be unaware of some potential side effects for experimental treatments
- The treatment may not work for you, even if it has worked for others
Still, joining a clinical trial comes with benefits as well. You will be given access to treatments that could be life-saving, but simply haven’t made it through the approval process yet.
If participating in a clinical trial is something you think you may be interested in, the government has a list of trials that are currently ongoing. SurvivorNet also has a tool to help you find trials for your particular disease.
Katie Couric’s Cancer Journey
Katie Couric was diagnosed in June 2022 but revealed her cancer to the world during Breast Cancer Awareness Month last year. She was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, specifically stage 1A.
“I was nervous about it. I waited a few days so I could process it and really understand what we were dealing with,” Couric said to “Today” at the time.
Dr. Michael Zeidman, assistant professor of surgery at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, tells SurvivorNet that stage 1 is divided into two subcategories, 1a and 1b. Stage 1a breast cancer means the cancer hasn’t spread outside the breast. Stage 1b means there’s no tumor in the breast; instead, small groups of cancer cells are found in the lymph nodes. Stage 1b can also mean there’s a tumor in the breast and small groups of cancer cells in the lymph nodes. Stage 1 also means the cancer was caught very early, he says.
She underwent surgery and radiation therapy to treat the cancer a few months after her diagnosis.
Perhaps equally as important is she learned more about her breast during her cancer journey. She has dense breasts, meaning more fibroglandular tissue and less fatty breast tissue exist.
Couric says she receives additional screening alongside her mammogram. She also receives an ultrasound. A breast ultrasound can supplement a regular mammogram in women with dense breasts.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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