ORLANDO, Fla. — A Central Florida research team is working to develop a better treatment for the deadliest type of melanoma, receiving a nearly half-million-dollar NIH grant to study a newly identified cancer-causing virus.
At Stetson University, students like Khushi Patel are helping drive the research. “I contributed to this research, and it would be helping so many patients,” she said. The team, led by virologist Dr. Kristine Dye, studies Merkel cell polyomavirus. “We study in this lab viruses that cause cancer,” Dye said.
“We study Merkel cell polyomavirus and how it causes Merkel cell carcinoma,” a skin cancer she notes is “three times as deadly as melanoma.” She added, “There hasn’t been a virus discovered since Merkel cell polyomavirus that causes cancer in humans.”
Dye has spent a decade studying how the virus works. She found a protein that rapidly spreads cancer by entering the cell nucleus. Only about 50% of Merkel cell carcinoma patients respond to existing treatments. Singer Jimmy Buffett passed away from Merkel cell carcinoma last year.
If the cancer spreads, patients currently have approximately a 45% chance of surviving five years.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2025 Cox Media Group
