Preventing uveal melanoma, the most common eye cancer in adults, from spreading remains one of the biggest challenges in treating the disease.
While high-dose radiation therapy can reduce tumour growth in the eye, it usually causes permanent vision loss and does not effectively prevent metastatic disease, where cancer spreads to other parts of the body. Around half of patients will develop metastatic disease, which has limited treatment options and poor overall survival.
One of the biggest barriers to developing new targeted therapies is the lack of laboratory models that accurately represent the uveal melanoma seen in patients.
Researchers use these models to recreate cancer outside of the body so they can better under how the disease develops, identify new treatment targets and test promising therapies before they reach patients.
Growing accurate eye models
Uveal melanoma develops from normal pigment-producing cells known as uveal melanocytes. Despite their important role in the disease, these normal cells have rarely been studied and few reliable laboratory models exist.
Dr Lauren Dalvin, an ophthalmologist and ocular oncologist based at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, USA, and undertaking PhD studies with Professor James Armitage, has developed laboratory models that accurately reflect the different forms of uveal melanoma seen in patients.
The team created a biobank comprised of patient-derived organoids, miniature three-dimensional tumours grown from patient samples, alongside new laboratory grown uveal melanocyte cell lines. Together, these models allowed the team to compare normal eye cells to tumour cells and investigate how uveal melanoma develops.
The researchers identified clear differences in gene activity between normal melanocytes and the uveal melanoma organoids, providing new insights into the biological changes that occur when normal cells become cancerous.
Due to the more representative nature of these models, they are likely to provide a more realistic picture of how uveal melanoma behaves and responds to treatment.
Better tools for better treatments
The biobank has the potential to improve successful translation of laboratory research into a clinical setting, as these models are more representative of human disease.
By developing laboratory models that more closely reflect human disease, Dr Dalvin and the team have created a valuable resource for researchers worldwide. The study showed that gene expression can vary across different subtypes of uveal melanoma, suggesting they may respond differently to treatment.
The research team also identified several genes that behave differently in cancer cells. Many of these genes have previously been linked to cancer growth, invasion, spread or survival in other forms of melanoma and cancer. Professor Armitage highlights the importance of studying multiple models to support the development of personalised therapies.
‘Dr Dalvin has built a truly unique and incredibly valuable biobank of uveal melanoma organoid cultures. These new laboratory models have the potential to improve how discoveries translate into clinical practice, helping researchers develop more effective treatments for a truly devastating disease.’
‘Dr Dalvin’s findings provide clues about biological pathways that may help suppress tumour growth or influence how uveal melanoma interacts with the immune system’, he says.
Where next?
Several recently developed treatments look promising in the laboratory but fail in clinical trial. Dr Dalvin and the team have recently tested these therapeutic agents on their organoid culture models and their new models are able to predict success or failure of these drugs.
Dr Dalvin’s laboratory is now exploring the intracellular pathways that might be responsible for tumour growth to uncover novel therapeutic angles.
This article was originally published in our 2025 Impact Report. Explore the full report.
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