SMR Congress

Adil Daud, MD, discusses the role of dabrafenib plus trametinib in patients with advanced melanoma and highlighted other combinations under investigation.

The combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) showed a sustained survival benefit compared with nivolumab or ipilimumab alone, according to 5-year follow-up results.

Gaudenz Danuser, PhD, discusses how the activation of RacP29S impacts the treatment of patients with melanoma. His lab has been studying the Rac molecule for around 20 years. The RacP29S mutation most commonly appears in melanoma, but it has since been discovered in a few other cancer types as well.

Combining a BRAF inhibitor with a MEK inhibitor causes endoplasmic reticulum stress in BRAF wild-type, NRAS­-mutated melanoma cells, resulting in significant antitumor activity.

Allison Betof Warner, MD, PhD, discusses the excitement surrounding the findings from the COMBI-i trial that was presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. This trial investigated the combination of PD-1 inhibitor spartalizumab with dabrafenib plus trametinib in patients with advanced BRAF V6000mutant melanoma.

Alexander N. Shoushtari, MD, discusses the significance of the findings from the first-in-human trial evaluating tebentafusp, a TCR–CD3 bispecific, in patients with advanced 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%.

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.

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.

The use of intralesional therapies in combination with checkpoint inhibitors has shown to be an improvement to monotherapy and combinations with immunotherapy in melanoma.

Georgina V. Long, BSc, PhD, MBBS, chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at the Melanoma Institute of Australia (MIA) and Royal North Shore Hospital, University of Australia, discusses the patients with melanoma who respond best to the combination of dabrafenib plus trametinib.

Rodabe N. Amaria, MD, assistant professor Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the results of a recent trial testing neoadjuvant and adjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib versus standard of care in high-risk resectable BRAF-mutant melanoma.

Results from a safety, tolerability, and dose escalation phase Ib/II study involving intratumoral SD-101 and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) have demonstrated that the combination was well-tolerated with no dose-limiting toxicities.

Treatment with the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib before and after surgery demonstrated a dramatic improvement in relapse-free survival compared with the standard of care for patients with stage IIIb/c or oligometastatic BRAF-mutant melanoma.

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy, Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the results from the COLUMBUS trial, testing encorafenib plus binimetinib compared to vemurafenib or encorafenib as single agents.