Melanoma

Nivolumab (Opdivo) has received FDA approval for the adjuvant treatment of patients with completely resected melanoma with lymph node involvement or metastatic disease.

According to results from the phase II NCI9855 study, presented at the 2017 World Congress of Melanoma, glembatumumab vedotin (CDX-011) induced a 61% disease control rate in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma, despite a low a low objective response rate of 6%.

Victoria Atkinson, MD, medical oncologist, Princess Alexandra Hospital, University of Queensland, discusses combination regimens on the horizon in melanoma.

For patients with advanced cancers, including melanoma, non–small cell lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma, the combination of the CD122-biased cytokine NKTR-214 and the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) demonstrated target lesion reductions of 72%, according to findings from the phase Ib PIVOT-02 trial presented at the 2017 SITC Annual Meeting.

The authors discuss the current standard of care and review the new data for immunotherapy in advanced merkel cell carcinoma (MCC).

Kelly Paulson, MD, PhD, a fellow at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses single-cell RNA sequencing in merkel cell carcinoma during The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 32nd Annual Meeting.

The objective response rate with neoadjuvant nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) was almost tripled compared with nivolumab alone in patients with high-risk resectable melanoma, according to preliminary findings from a phase II study presented during the 32nd SITC Annual Meeting.

Jason Luke, MD, assistant professor of medicine, University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the promising combination of a PD-1 antibody plus an IDO inhibitor for the treatment of patients with melanoma.<br /> &nbsp;

According to data from the phase II OMS-I102 trial presented at the 2017 World Congress of Melanoma, the&nbsp;immune stimulator ImmunoPulse IL-12 induced promising activity when added to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with melanoma who have been identified as unlikely responders to&nbsp;anti&ndash;PD-1 therapies.

According to data presented&nbsp;at the 2017 World Congress of Melanoma, the combination of&nbsp;nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) induced a 3-year relapse-free survival rate of 71% in the adjuvant treatment of patients with high-risk resected stage IIIC/IV melanoma, but it was also associated with significant toxicity.&nbsp;

Celeste Lebb&eacute;, MD, from the H&ocirc;pital Saint Louis, in Paris, France, discusses the use of immunotherapy for the treatment of melanoma.

The combination of&nbsp;dabrafenib and trametinib has been granted a breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA for the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III melanoma with a <em>BRAF V600</em> mutation following complete resection.

Adjuvant treatment with a combination of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) continues to show a long-term survival benefit in patients with melanoma, even across subgroup populations, according to a presentation at the 2017 World Congress of Melanoma (WCM).

According to updated results from the phase II ABC trial presented at the 2017 World Congress of Melanoma, Nivolumab (Opdivo) combined with&nbsp;ipilimumab (Yervoy) showed activity in&nbsp;asymptomatic patients with melanoma brain metastases who had not received prior local therapy to the brain.

While immunotherapty has led a transformation for melanoma care, combinations of&nbsp;anti&ndash;PD-1 and CTLA-4 agents are toxic, and biomarkers are not yet available to help personalize treatment. Therefore, Carolina Robert, MD, PhD, says, further research is needed to explore less toxic, more effective options.

In a small phase I study, engineered tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes demonstrated signs of antitumor activity in patients with metastatic melanoma following treatment with a prior checkpoint inhibitor. Results of the pilot study of TILs that were engineered to express&nbsp;transforming growth factor-&beta; dominant negative receptor and nerve growth factor receptor were presented during the 2017 World Congress of Melanoma.

Triplet therapy with the combination of anti&ndash;PD-1/PD-L1 therapy, BRAF, and MEK inhibitors have already shown promise for patients with&nbsp;<em>BRAF</em>-positive advanced melanoma, and the potential for these combinations are increasing, according to Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD.&nbsp;

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

In patients with melanoma, the use of intralesional therapies in combination with checkpoint inhibitors has demonstrated to be an improvement to monotherapy and combinations with immunotherapy, according to a presentation by Robert Andtbacka, MD, at the 2017 World Congress of 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,

Triplet therapy for advanced, <em>BRAF</em> V600-mutant melanoma led to objective responses in 73% of a small group of patients enrolled in a phase I trial, according to updated results reported at the 2017 ESMO Annual Congress in Madrid.

Nearly half of patients with resectable stage IIIB/C BRAF V600-mutant melanoma achieved pathologic complete response with neoadjuvant treatment with dabrafenib and trametinib, according to results of a phase II study presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress in Madrid.

Michael A. Postow, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses how the results of the COMBI-AD study and the CheckMate-238 study will impact the care of patients with melanoma.

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, deputy director of the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, co-director of the Melanoma Program, and head of Experimental Therapeutics at NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses how results of the CheckMate-238 study will impact patients with melanoma.

Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, director at the Unit of Melanoma, Cancer Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapy, National Tumor Institute Fondazione G. Pascale, discusses the initial efficacy findings for the anti-LAG-3 antibody BMS-986016 plus nivolumab in&nbsp;patients with immunotherapy-relapsed/refractory melanoma.