Melanoma & Skin Cancer

Researchers are seeking to determine whether the plethora of new therapies that have been introduced in recent years in the advanced and metastatic settings can benefit patients at risk of recurrence earlier in the treatment timeline for melanoma.

Michael A. Postow, MD, discusses the impressive efficacy seen with combining BRAF and MEK inhibitors for patients with melanoma.

Robyn Saw, FRACS, MS, MBBS, associate professor of surgery, The University of Sydney, discusses a study of vitamin D in melanoma.

Jason Luke, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC; Imlygic) for the treatment of patients with melanoma.

Glembatumumab vedotin (CDX-011) induced a disease control rate of 61% in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma, despite a low a low objective response rate of 6%.

Pascale Guitera, MD, director, Sydney Melanoma Diagnostic Centre, associate professor, the University of Sydney, discusses the RADICAL trial of patients with melanoma.

Helmut Schaider, MD, associate professor, Dermatology Research Centre, the University of Queensland, discusses adaptive drug resistance for patients with melanoma.

Celeste Lebbe, MD, PhD, Hopital Saint Louis in Paris, discusses the efficacy of avelumab (Bavencio) in patients with stage IV Merkel cell carcinoma.

The FDA has awarded the combination of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) a breakthrough therapy designation for the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III melanoma with a BRAF V600 mutation following complete resection.

The combination of adjuvant nivolumab and ipilimumab led to a 3-year relapse-free survival rate of 71% in patients with high-risk resected stage IIIC/IV melanoma.

A doubling in 3-year relapse-free survival rates remained consistent across patient subgroups treated with dabrafenib and trametinib, when compared with placebo, for patients with BRAF-mutant stage III melanoma.

Rodabe N. Amaria, MD, department of Melanoma Oncology, division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses using genetically modified tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in patients with advanced melanoma.

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.

Adding the immune stimulator ImmunoPulse IL-12 to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) produced promising activity among patients with melanoma identified as unlikely responders to anti–PD-1 therapies.

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.

Michael A. Postow, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses BRAF and MEK inhibitor combinations studies in melanoma.

Victoria Atkinson, MD, medical oncologist, Princess Alexandra Hospital, University of Queensland, discusses the Columbus trial for patients with melanoma.

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.

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.

Alan Shain, PhD, postdoctoral scholar, UCSF School of Medicine, discusses the role of genetics in melanoma.

Adil Daud, MD, clinical professor, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses challenges facing the treatment landscape of melanoma.