Dr. Tara C. Gangadhar on Atypical Responses with Immunotherapies in Melanoma

Tara C. Mitchell, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses atypical responses with immunotherapies in melanoma.

Compared to cytotoxic chemotherapy, responses can sometime be delayed with immunotherapy agents, says Mitchell.

On the first response assessment after immunotherapy, the tumor may appear larger or the same size as it was before treatment. This may be because the immunotherapy can take a longer time to work, or it could be due to immunotherapy-related inflammation in the tumor. This type of inflammation can sometimes look radiographically like a larger tumor, but a subsequent response assessment will reveal good tumor shrinkage and response, says Mitchell.