Melanoma & Skin Cancer

As the immunotherapy research field grows, NY-ESO-1 is emerging as a high-priority target for cancer vaccine development and adoptive T-cell therapies.

The FDA granted a breakthrough therapy designation to the combination of bempegaldesleukin (NKTR-214) and nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with previously untreated unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, director, Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy and director of clinical research, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the rationale to explore triplet therapy in BRAF V600-mutant melanoma.

Paul D. Nathan, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, discusses the 5-year analysis of the COMBI-d and COMBI-v trials, which look at the long-term effects of dabrafenib plus trametinib in patients with BRAF V600–mutant unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

David Polsky, MD, PhD, Alfred W. Kopf, MD Professor of Dermatologic Oncology, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, professor, Department of Pathology, and director, Pigmented Lesion Service, NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, discusses the predictive value of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in BRAF-mutant melanoma.

Georgina V. Long, BSc, PhD, MBBS, FRACP, co-medical director of Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA), chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at MIA and Royal North Shore Hospital, University of Sydney, discusses results from the 5-year analysis of the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib in patients with BRAF V600E-mutant melanoma.

Ulcerated melanoma is associated with worse outcomes and appears to be driven in part by systemic inflammation, which is more common in smokers, obese individuals, and those with vitamin D deficiency.

Nikhil Khushalani, MD, vice chair, Department of Cutaneous Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the plans for the CA045-001 trial, an international, multicenter study that is comparing bempegaldesleukin plus nivolumab versus nivolumab monotherapy in patients with previously untreated, unresectable, or metastatic melanoma.

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, discusses an update on overall survival in COLUMBUS, a randomized phase III trial of encorafenib plus binimetinib versus vemurafenib or encorafenib in patients with BRAF V600-mutant melanoma.

David Polsky, MD, PhD, discusses findings from an analysis in patients with BRAF-mutant, unresectable, metastatic melanoma, as well as the next steps for validating these findings and potentially using circulating tumor DNA to help inform treatment decisions.