Jump to Section:

Your skin is the largest organ in your body — and one of the easiest and most important to protect.

July is Ultraviolet (UV) Radiation Safety Awareness Month, and here at the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), we want to share with you some simple tips aimed at lowering your risk of skin cancer.

Fast Facts About Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States.
In the United States alone, an estimated 9,500 new cases are diagnosed daily.
Incidence rates are higher in women aged <50 years, but higher in men over 50.
When caught early, most skin cancers are highly treatable and have an excellent prognosis.
Invasive melanoma accounts for just 1% of all skin cancer cases, but the majority of deaths.
~90% of all skin cancers are caused by exposure to UV radiation from the sun or tanning beds.
UV radiation damages DNA. If that damage isn’t properly repaired, permanent DNA mutations can accumulate over time.

The good news? Most skin cancers are preventable, and taking easy measures to protect your skin can dramatically reduce your risk.

Keep Cancer Immunotherapy Research Moving Forward

About UV Radiation

UV rays are invisible to the human eye, with wavelengths between 100 and 400nm, which are shorter than visible light but longer than X-rays. They naturally come from the sun, but can also come from artificial sources like tanning beds.

How Does Radiation Cause Skin Cancer?

Much of the DNA damage caused by UV radiation is cumulative, meaning it builds up over years of repeated sun exposure. Protecting your skin with SPF 30+ sunscreen or clothing is the easiest way to block UV rays from penetrating the skin and causing DNA damage that can lead to skin cancer.

Types of Skin Cancer

Healthy skin is made up of several layers and specialized cells. Most skin cancers begin when UV radiation damages the DNA in one of these cell types, causing it to grow uncontrollably.

The different types of skin cancer depend on where the cancer begins:

Immunotherapy for Skin Cancers

Fortunately, advances in cancer immunotherapy have transformed the outlook for many patients with advanced melanoma. What was once considered one of the deadliest cancers has become one of immunotherapy’s greatest success stories.

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs) are the most prominent class of immunotherapies for melanoma. ICIs work by releasing the “brakes” on the immune system; brakes tumors use to disguise themselves and avoid immune attack. ICIs block these interactions, allowing the immune system to detect and kill cancer cells.

Some examples of ICIs for melanoma include:

Ipilumab (Yervoy^Ⓡ)
Pembrolizumab (Keytruda^Ⓡ)
Nivolumab (Opdivo^Ⓡ)

The discovery of the science behind ICIs was work done by James P. Allison, PhD, Director of CRI’s Scientific Advisory Council. Dr. Allison went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 for his contributions.

One of the very first patients enrolled in the early clinical trials for ICIs was Sharon Belvin – a thriving 22-year-old diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma.

“Hearing the words ‘You have cancer’ carries a weight that’s almost impossible to describe. I remember the fear, the uncertainty, and the question that echoed in my mind every single day: How much time do I really have left?“

Running out of options, Sharon’s oncologist helped her enroll in a clinical trial for ICIs.

To this day, Sharon remains cancer-free…over two decades later. Dr. Allison even officiated her wedding.

Sharon’s remarkable outcome was made possible because decades of fundamental immunology research had already laid the groundwork for therapies like ICIs. The efforts in the lab turned into decades of life for Sharon – and so many others.

Real Patients. Real Cancer Journeys.

Ongoing Research in Immunotherapy

Despite this progress, immunotherapy still doesn’t work for everyone. Between 30% and 50% of patients with advanced melanoma do not respond to ICIs, and researchers are working to understand why.

Katie Campbell, PhD, a former CRI Postdoctoral Fellow and adjunct assistant professor at UCLA, aims to help answer these questions not only by looking at which immune cells are present inside tumors, but also at how they’re arranged and what that architecture reveals about whether a patient is likely to benefit from treatment.

She describes these immune cell clusters as cellular neighborhoods, regions where cancer cells, immune cells, and the blood vessels that serve as immune highways are all in constant communication with one another.

Critically, the team studied biopsies taken both before and during treatment, capturing not just a static snapshot, but a picture of the immune system in motion.

It’s like taking a picture of a bike race before it starts. Before the race, you can just say there’s a bunch of bikes. Once they’re moving, you can say which cyclists are at the front of the pack versus the back – and you can do a lot more inference about what’s happening.

The broader vision is one of smarter, earlier intervention. Today, patients who don’t respond to immunotherapy may cycle through multiple treatments before finding one that works – losing precious time in the process. Dr. Campbell hopes that these approaches will eventually allow clinicians to identify the right therapy sooner, before patients have been through so much that their ability to respond is diminished.

Read about more CRI-funded scientists working to expand immunotherapy for patients with melanoma.

Protecting Your Skin Today — and Improving Treatments for Tomorrow

Most skin cancers can be prevented with simple habits that reduce UV exposure, making sunscreen, protective clothing, and regular skin checks some of the most powerful tools for protecting your health. But when skin cancer does occur, decades of research have transformed what is possible for patients.

Immunotherapy has rewritten the outlook for many people with advanced melanoma, turning once-limited treatment options into long-lasting responses for some patients. Researchers continue to build on that progress, working toward a future where more patients benefit from these lifesaving therapies.

Whether you’re applying sunscreen before heading outside or supporting the science behind tomorrow’s breakthroughs, every step forward helps move us closer to a world where fewer people develop skin cancer — and more people survive it.

Want to stay in touch? Sign up for our email list!