breast cancer and melanoma

[dberg]

I had a very benign looking freckle removed on my leg, at my insistence because it grew so quickly. I just got the message from my PCM that it is melanoma in situ. I was completely dumbfounded because didn't look anything like the pictures of melanoma that you see in textbooks. Has anyone else experienced this?

I just googled breast cancer and melanoma and apparently there is a connection.

[Montana]

So glad to see this post. I have had the same diagnosis this week, melanoma in situ (stage 0) on the lower leg. Mine passed the A, B, C, & D criteria so I had it checked. I also have a squamous cell on one hand. I've had many (approx. 20) basal cells removed, but this is my first melanoma. Excisions are scheduled for next week.

What exactly IS the connection? Pre-breast cancer was all ordinary basal cell. Are my cells running amouk....basal cell carcinoma, DCIS, IDC, squamous cell and now the melanoma? What's next?

[Soccermom]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYD/is_13_39/ai_n6114053

additionally,

http://www.oncolink.com/resources/article.cfm?c=3&s=8&ss=23&id=11098&month=09&year=2004

Hoep these articles are helpful...
Marcia

[Montana]

Maria, thanks for the interesting links.

[Gerri]

This is of great interest to me. I had a melanoma removed over 12 years ago and have always wondered if there was a connection between the two - I've actually had all three types of skin cancer removed through the years.

Thanks for posting this. It is just the push I needed to make that appointment with the dermatologist for a thorough exam - long overdue!

All my best,

[Lolly]

Yikes, I'm scheduled to see my dermatologist next week for a weird looking freckle on my lip of all things. I think it's cancer of course, but hoping not. Didn't know about the BC/Melanoma connection, but I do know that some of the newest clinical trials for new melanoma are focusing on the immune system. Having any type of cancer and going through chemo puts our immune systems at a disadvantage if melanoma is immune disfunction related.

<3 Lolly

[Stephanie]

I've read that melanoma can be caused by the BRCA gene, so that's one place where there's a connection with breast cancer. I'd be interested if they're also seeing melanomas in bc patients who are not BRCA carriers, though.

[Yorkiegirl]

Now all this really scares me, as I have Dr. appt on Monday in reference to a raised mole, that is red/brown looking on my arm. It feels like it has knot underneath it. So I guess I will see what they will do with it.

[dhealey]

I recently had a rather large irregular edged freckle removed from my chest near my port at my onc's insistance and it was melanoma in situ. This arose about 4 months after I finished chemo. And yes there is a corralation with breast cancer and melanoma.

[Karen W]

I recently went to my derm and had her give me a skin cancer check. I am going to do this annually. I didn't realize there was a connection between bc and melanoma.

Karen

[Lida]

I had an early melanoma removed from my leg a few years ago. My dermatologist believes there is a genetic connection between breast cancer and melanoma. He has me do monthly skin exams, sees me periodically for skin exams and asked me to have my first degree relatives come in for a skin exam. If melanoma is caught early (pre-melanoma or early stage -I was stage 1) , it can be removed with very high cure rates. Lida

[Kim in CA]

Haven't been diagnosed with a melanoma yet, but have had many basal cells and two squamous cells removed recently. Having grown up in Southern Calif. and spent way too many summers trying to tan my fair freckle faced skin, I fear it is only a matter of time for the melanomas.

It hardly seems fair that we get to deal with bc and get all cut up with that, (at least those scars are hidden) but now I'm having to deal with scars on my face, neck and legs from the skin cancers. It's the PITTS!

Kim

[harrie]

Since I am a BRCA2 carrier, I am told my risk of melanoma is a bit elevated therefore annual skin exams by a dermatoligist is recommended.

[Kimberly Lewis]

Yes, i read about the connection and visited a dermatologist last year. Didn't have melanoma but did have squamous and beginner stuff removed. Now I go every 6 months. Wow, another Dr. to visit... can't believe it!

[weezie1053]

I saw a genetic counselor who educated me on the genetics of melanoma and BC. My maternal grandmother had melanoma which spread to her brain. She later was diagnosed with BC, but she died from the melanoma. My brother also has prostrate cancer which is another genetic red flag.

My mother died of leukimia @ age 57, and my father died of colon cancer. Neither of which are known to be genetically linked to the BC. Go figure...

I too have annual exams by the dermatologist. Isn't it amazing that some of us procrastinated (guilty!) on having annual mammos, but now, we seek out the best of the physicians to check us up one side and down the other.

[SherriT]

I haven't posted in quite some time--trying to get back to a bit of "normalcy" but you got me on this thread. Very interesting.

For YEARS I had a large "mole" (so I always called it) on my lower leg/ankle area. In 2004 I had a dermatologist look at. He felt it looked fine but as a precaution biopsied it. The test results came back 'normal' but I decided I would remove it anyways (as a precaution because it was large--about 1/2 inch in size). Of course time got away from me (partly because in the back of my head I thought everything was "normal") I didn't get around to having it removed. Then in December of 2005 I was diagnosed with IBC. I had chemo/surgery/radiation) and figured I'd try to "start over with a clean slate" and got the mole removed too. Test results came back as an early stage melanoma. Hard to believe that a mole that had been there for so many years had, in less than two years, changed from being "normal" into a "melanoma". I would be interested to know the connection between the two--and what the chances are for either of them ever coming back. Unfortunately this seems to be just one more 'nasty' to worry about. Like we don't all have enough to deal with.

Take care everyone.

[Beverly]

Wow, I am finding so much more in this support group than I expected. I am fair, freckled and a Florida native, so precancer and basal cell skin cancers at 53 (had my first at about 30) are not too alarming. But in 2006, during a solid year of chemo of various types, I noticed a tiny spot at the outside edge of my eyebrow that came and went. I was not in good enough immunity shape to even have it biopsied. When my white count returned to normal in mid-2007, I had it checked and it was squamous cell, requiring a huge area of excision using MOHS surgery.

My oncologist and dermatologist denied a link between breast cancer or chemotherapy and skin cancer, yet my own research and the reported experiences here tell me that there is something there. I will remain vigilant. It helps that my dermatoligist has me on 4 month checkups-so the appointment is already made.

[Jackie07]

My neurosurgeon had told me in 2003 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer that "people who have one type of cancer are more likely to have another type of cancer." I guess we are just predisposed to different kinds of illnesses because of either gene defects or 'weak' genes. I was born premature and was in the incubator for several months before I went home. I am sure it had something to do with my brain tumor and breast cancer since none of my 3 older brothers and 2 older sisters have had any health problems like mine.

But they don't have as exciting a life as mine, either. And I am the only one that truely have 'a connection to God'. I have to. Because Faith is the only thing I can depend on. I praised God when I got my first brain tumor diagnosis because that explained why I had come to this country and stayed - because I had a life-long brain tumor to take care of (like I had known it beforehand :) I praised God when I got my first breast cancer - it was during my 2nd unemployment. What better time to take care of a life-threatening illness? And the recurrence - how fortunate that I had found it and got it treated just in time (the surgeon had only a .5 mm
margin from my r. pectoralis muscle.)

I had whole bunch 'keratosis' on my back after the infertility treatment in 1998. The dermatologist took them off out of my insistence because I read somewhere that they could turn into cancer. Thanks for sharing, now I am going to be more diligent.

[R.B.]

There are several trials suggesting COX2 omega 6 products including PGE2 are a factor in BC. It is also reported to be a factor in melanoma.

Reducing omega six intake and increasing long chain omega three (EPA and DHA) is reported to assist in reducing PGE2 [Omega 3 fatty acids in clinical nutrition - Heller and Koch]

http://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=30984&highlight=cox

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/61/1/303


Expression of Cyclooxygenase 2 in Human Malignant Melanoma
Carsten Denkert, Martin Köbel, Stefan Berger, Antje Siegert, Anja Leclere, Uwe Trefzer and Steffen Hauptmann1

Institute of Pathology [C. D., M. K., S. B., A. S., A. L., S. H.] and Department of Dermatology and Allergy [U. T.], Charité Hospital, D-10117 Berlin, Germany

"All melanoma cell lines produced prostaglandin (PG) E2 between 468 and 3500 pg/ml as determined by ELISA. Treatment with NS-398 (50 µM), a specific inhibitor of COX-2, suppressed PGE2 production of all melanoma cell lines by 50–96%. The IC50 for inhibition of PGE2 production by NS-398 was determined as 4 µM, indicating that NS-398 acts via inhibition of the COX-2 isoenzyme. We could show that proliferation of melanoma cell lines was not influenced by treatment with NS-398 in concentrations up to 100 µM. However, NS-398 reduced Matrigel invasion of all five malignant melanoma cell lines by 50–68%. Our results indicate that COX-2 is expressed in malignant melanomas and may be involved in regulation of melanoma invasion. It remains to be investigated whether selective inhibitors of COX-2 might be useful for prevention or treatment of malignant melanoma."