Immunotherapy in Melanoma | Specialty

The OncLive Immunotherapy in Melanoma condition center page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and expert insights on available and investigational immunotherapies in melanoma and other skin cancers. This page features news articles, interviews in written and video format, and podcasts that focus on updates with checkpoint inhibitors and the ongoing research with this type of treatment.

Epacadostat/ Nivolumab Shows Promising Efficacy for Melanoma, Head and Neck Cancer

June 6th 2017

The combination of the IDO inhibitor epacadostat and nivolumab demonstrated promising signs of activity for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and those with melanoma.

Nivolumab/Ipilimumab Highly Active in Patients With Melanoma Brain Metastases

June 5th 2017

Nivolumab plus ipilimumab demonstrated an intracranial response rate of 42% in asymptomatic patients with melanoma brain metastases who had not received prior local therapy to the brain.

Pembrolizumab/Entinostat Active in Melanoma Patients Refractory to Checkpoint Inhibitors

June 4th 2017

Combining the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) with the HDAC inhibitor entinostat demonstrated promising clinical activity and acceptable safety in patients with melanoma who were refractory to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Fear of Recurrence and Anxiety Lowered in Cancer Survivors After Psychological Intervention

June 3rd 2017

Psychological intervention can substantially lower fear of cancer recurrence in survivors, improving their quality of life, anxiety, and cancer-specific distress, according to a phase II randomized clinical trial presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Dr. Lallas on Challenges With Immunotherapy in Genitourinary Malignancies

May 25th 2017

Costas Lallas, MD, professor at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, discusses challenges with immunotherapy in genitourinary (GU) malignancies.

Update Confirms Benefit of Encorafenib/Binimetinib Combo in Melanoma

May 11th 2017

According to findings from part 2 of the phase III COLUMBUS trial, the combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib and the MEK inhibitor binimetinib reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 23% compared with single-agent encorafenib for patients with BRAF-mutant melanoma.

Dr. Agarwala on the Significance of OS and Toxicity Results in CheckMate-067

May 9th 2017

Sanjiv S. Agarwala, MD, chief of medical oncology and hematology, St. Luke’s Cancer Center, professor of Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, discusses whether the overall survival (OS) justifies the toxicities demonstrated in the CheckMate-067 trial for patients with melanoma.

Survival Gain With Higher Ipilimumab Dose Offers Opportunity for Some Melanoma Patients

April 11th 2017

Patients with stage III or IV melanoma assigned to 10 mg/kg ipilimumab (Yervoy) lived longer than patients assigned to a lower dose of the anti-CTLA-4 anticlonal antibody, but at the cost of greater toxicity.

Dr. Wolchok on Weighing Risk and Benefit of Nivolumab/Ipilimumab Combo in Melanoma

April 5th 2017

Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD, chief, Melanoma and Immunotherapeutics Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses weighing the overall survival (OS) benefit with the increased risk of toxicities seen with the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) in treatment-naïve patients with advanced melanoma.

IDO Inhibitor Increases Pembrolizumab Response in Melanoma

April 4th 2017

Adding the IDO inhibitor indoximod to pembrolizumab led to an overall response rate of 52% in patients with advanced melanoma, according to findings from a phase II trial reported at the 2017 AACR Annual Meeting.

Adding Coxsackievirus to Ipilimumab Displays Durable Antitumor Activity in Advanced Melanoma

April 4th 2017

Adding a formulation of the Coxsackievirus A21 (CAVATAK®) to ipilimumab (Yervoy) yielded an overall response rate of 50% and was well-tolerated in immunotherapy-naïve and pretreated patients with advanced melanoma.

Novel RAF Inhibitor Active Across Multiple Tumor Types

April 4th 2017

Treatment with the RAF dimer inhibitor BGB-283 led to clinical benefit for patients with BRAF V600-mutated melanoma, papillary thyroid cancer, and ovarian cancer.

Dr. Luke Discusses the Controversy Surrounding Ipilimumab/Nivolumab Combo in Melanoma

April 3rd 2017

Jason J. Luke, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, The University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the controversy surrounding the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) in treatment-naïve patients with advanced melanoma, which was explored in the CheckMate-067 trial, during the AACR Annual Meeting.

Nivolumab/Ipilimumab Combo Shows Modest OS Benefit in Advanced Melanoma in Updated Phase III Findings

April 3rd 2017

The PD-1 and CTLA-4 inhibitor combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) was associated with a 12% reduction in the risk of death versus nivolumab monotherapy in patients with treatment-naïve advanced melanoma.

Avelumab Further Demonstrates Durable Responses in Merkel Cell Carcinoma

April 3rd 2017

Treatment with the PD-L1 inhibitor avelumab induced an objective response rate of 33% in patients with advanced Merkel cell carcinoma in the phase II JAVELIN Merkel 200 study, including 2 additional complete responses since the primary analysis.

Dr. Turaga on Surgery Versus Immunotherapy in Melanoma

March 30th 2017

Kiran K. Turaga, MD, associate professor of surgery, vice chief, section of general surgery and surgical oncology, director of the Surgical GI Cancer Program and the Regional Therapeutics Program at The University of Chicago Medicine, discusses whether patients vie for immunotherapy versus surgery as treatment for their melanoma.

Dr. Shea on Dermatological Management in Melanoma

March 29th 2017

Christopher R. Shea, MD, the Eugene J. Van Scott Professor of Medicine, chief of the Section of Dermatology at The University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the dermatological management of melanoma.

Dr. Gajewski on Targets Being Explored in Melanoma

March 28th 2017

Thomas F. Gajewski, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at The University of Chicago Medicine, discusses what targets are currently being explored in patients with melanoma.

PD-1 and IDO Inhibitor Combo Slated to Change Practice in Melanoma

March 23rd 2017

Thomas F. Gajewski, MD, PhD, discusses how the combination of PD-1 and IDO inhibitors could change the standard of care for patients with melanoma, and highlights other emerging targets on the horizon.

Amid Explosion of Novel Agents, Surgery Remains Critical in Melanoma

March 22nd 2017

Kiran K. Turaga, MD, discusses advances in surgical approaches for the treatment of patients with melanoma.