October 29th 2020
With an estimated 5-year survival rate of 50% and an ongoing issue of resistance, next steps with immunotherapy in melanoma will focus on stratifying patients, personalizing therapy, and refining localized regimens.
The addition of anti–PD-1/PD-L1 to combination BRAF and MEK inhibition has been shown to improve progression-free survival and duration of response in patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma, suggesting potential to overcome resistance to targeted approaches.
Jason J. Luke, MD, discusses the recent advancements with BRAF-targeted therapies and PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma.
October 28th 2020
Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, discusses the importance of BRAF in melanoma.
Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, discusses the results of the phase 3 COMBI-AD trial with dabrafenib plus trametinib in patients with resected, stage III BRAF V600E/K–mutant melanoma.
November 27th 2019
A triplet combining the PD-1 inhibitor spartalizumab with dabrafenib and trametinib led to a 12-month overall survival rate of 86.1% for patients with previously untreated advanced BRAF V600–mutant melanoma.
November 26th 2019
Ryan J. Sullivan, MD, discusses the rationale for BRAF/MEK combinations and immunotherapeutic combinations in melanoma and ongoing research examining triplet regimens.
Georgina V. Long, BSc, PhD, MBBS, FRACP, discusses the findings from a subgroup analyses of the CheckMate-067 trial.
November 25th 2019
The combination of cobimetinib (Cotellic) and vemurafenib (Zelboraf) maintained an advantage for overall survival and objective response rate in patients with BRAF-positive melanoma versus vemurafenib alone.
November 24th 2019
Patients with unresectable or metastatic BRAF V600-mutant melanoma who achieve a complete response to dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus trametinib (Mekinist) are more likely to have improved survival outcomes at 5 years.
Isabella C. Glitza, MD, discusses a single-center phase I/Ib trial of concurrent intravenous and intrathecal nivolumab for patients with metastatic melanoma and leptomeningeal disease.
November 23rd 2019
Grant McArthur, PhD, discusses significant results from the final analysis of the coBRIM trial, which evaluated the 5-year survival data of cobimetinib plus vemurafenib in patients with BRAF V600-mutated advanced melanoma.
Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC; Imlygic) prior to surgery was associated with improved recurrence-free survival and overall survival compared with surgery alone in patients with resectable advanced melanoma.
Ryan J. Sullivan, MD, discusses the significance of the BRAF/MEK combination dabrafenib and trametinib, which was the first BRAF/MEK inhibitor regimen to be approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600E–positive stage III melanoma following complete resection.
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.
November 22nd 2019
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.