Melanoma

The dependence of cancer cells on the continued activity of specific oncogenes for proliferation and survival can be explored for drug development.

Alex A. Adjei, MD, PhD, discusses the use of MEK inhibitors when treating patients with melanoma.

Jeffrey A. Sosman, MD, from the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, discusses drug sequencing for patients with melanoma at the 11th Annual International Congress on Targeted Therapies in Cancer.

The investigational immunotherapy Allovectin (velimogene aliplasmid) failed to meet key endpoints in a phase III trial in patients with stage III/IV metastatic melanoma.

At the 18th Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), experts presented the latest updates to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology.

Until recently, the cornerstone of therapy for metastatic melanoma had been chemotherapy with DTIC and immunotherapy with HD IL-2 or interferon-α.

Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, describes two trials presented at the 2013 ASCO Meeting looking at nivolumab in patients with melanoma.

Using an intermittent dosing strategy with vemurafenib instead of continuous dosing has the potential to overcome the development of resistance in patients with melanoma treated with the drug.

Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, the director of the Tumor Immunology Program Area at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses PD-1 and PD-L1 in various cancers.

Robert Andtbacka, MD, from the University of Utah School of Medicine and Huntsman Cancer Institute, discusses a trial analyzing talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) in melanoma.

Andre Goy, MD, from John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses recent research into fighting cancer with the immune system.

Richard D. Carvajal, MD, describes the design of a phase II study of selumetinib versus temozolomide in gnaq/Gna11 mutant uveal melanoma.

The anti-PD-1 therapy nivolumab demonstrated an overall objective response rate of 31%, with a median duration of 2 years in patients with advanced melanoma.

Combination therapy with ipilimumab and nivolumab led to durable tumor shrinkage in approximately half of patients with aggressive, advanced melanoma.

Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, comments on the efficacy of lambrolizumab, an anti-PD-1 antibody, in patients with advanced melanoma.

Clifford A. Hudis, MD, Attending Physician, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses his optimism surrounding immunotherapy for cancer care.

Richard D. Carvajal, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, describes the use of selumetinib in patients with advanced uveal melanoma.

Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, Chief, Hematology Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, gives an overview of the treatment of advanced melanoma at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting.

The FDA approved both dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) for the treatment of patients with metastatic or unresectable melanoma.