Immuno-Oncology

Dirk Schadendorf, MD, head of department for Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, University Hospital Essen, Germany, discusses the efficacy of combining targeted therapy with checkpoint inhibitors for patients with melanoma.

The combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab showed an intracranial response rate of 46% for asymptomatic patients with melanoma brain metastases who had not received prior local therapy to the brain.

The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has issued guidelines recommending against nivolumab (Opdivo), lenvatinib (Lenvima), and sorafenib (Nexavar).

The combination of anti–PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy with BRAF plus MEK inhibitors is advancing rapidly following early promising phase results for patients with BRAF-mutant advanced melanoma.

Immunotherapy has led a transformation for melanoma care but combinations of anti–PD-1 and CTLA-4 agents are toxic and biomarkers are not available to help personalized treatment, calling for further research into less toxic and more effective options.

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, deputy director and co-director of the Melanoma Program at the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses the use of nivolumab (Opdivo) in the adjuvant setting for the treatment of patients with melanoma.

Treatment with genetically engineered tumor infiltrating lymphocytes showed some signs of activity and very little added toxicity for patients with metastatic melanoma.

Michael R. Harrison, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses the possibility of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) becoming the new interleukin-2 (IL-2).

While chemotherapy has historically been used to treat patients with Merkel cell carcinoma, immunotherapy advances have infused new hope into the treatment landscape.

Jason Luke, MD, assistant professor of medicine, University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the combination approach of a PD-1 antibody plus an IDO inhibitor for patients with melanoma.

Marina Chiara Garassino, MD, medical consultant, Medical Oncology Division, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, discusses some of the recent exciting results regarding immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The FDA has granted a priority review to a supplemental biologics license application for nivolumab (Opdivo) to treat patients with melanoma who are at high risk of disease recurrence following complete surgical resection.

Dan Zandberg, MD, assistant professor of medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, discusses the role of immunotherapy in head and neck cancer.

Sumanta Kumar Pal, MD, co-director of the Kidney Cancer Program at the City of Hope, discusses the sequencing of immunotherapy regimens in patients with urothelial carcinoma.

Lawrence E. Feldman, MD, discusses first- and second-line therapy with checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC, and the promise that emerging combinations could have on the field.

Matthew R. Zibelman, MD, discussed the promise of immunotherapy combinations for patients with kidney cancer.