The Changing Landscape of Immunotherapies for the Treatment of Melanoma

Clinical Pearls

Harriet Kluger, MD, associate professor of medicine (medical oncology), associate director, Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, Yale Cancer Center, comments on the changing landscape of immunotherapies for the treatment of melanoma.

• A few years ago, the only immunotherapies approved for the treatment of melanoma were cytokines: interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon
• IL-2 prolongs survival in small subset of patients and interferon has never demonstrated a benefit to survival
• Ipilimumab, approved in 2011, has demonstrated activity in a fair number of patients
• Only 15% of patients treated with ipilimumab achieve an objective response, though an additional subset can see survival benefit
• Inhibitors of PD-1 could be added to ipilimumab for additional benefit