Melanoma

Concurrent nivolumab and ipilimumab produced “rapid and deep” responses in patients with advanced melanoma who took part in the first phase I trial to evaluate the PD-1-blocking antibody nivolumab, along with the CTLA-4-blocking antibody ipilimumab.

The investigational anti-PD-1 immunotherapy MK-3475 has demonstrated an overall survival rate of 81% at one year in patients with advanced melanoma.

Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, discusses the benefits of combining BRAF and MEK inhibitors when treating melanoma.

Omid Hamid, MD, discusses promising combination therapies for the treatment of melanoma.

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Department of Cutaneous Oncology, director, Donald A. Adam Comprehensive Melanoma Research Center, Moffitt Cancer Center, comments on the importance of a SPORE grant.

Anthony M. Magliocco, MD, discusses the pathologist’s role when treating a patient with melanoma.

At the 11th International Congress on Targeted Therapies in Cancer, The International Journal of Targeted Therapies in Cancer spoke with Dr. Sosman about his conference presentation on advances in immunotherapy in melanoma.

Omid Hamid, MD, chief, translational research and immunotherapy, director, cutaneous oncology and melanoma, The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, discusses treatment decisions for patients with melanoma.

Vernon K. Sondak, MD, chair of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the use of ipilimumab in the adjuvant setting for patients with melanoma.

Karl Lewis, MD, medical oncologist, associate professor, University of Colorado, discusses sequencing immunotherapy and targeted therapy for patients with melanoma.

Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, assistant professor, medical oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses testing in patients with melanoma.

Vernon K. Sondak, MD, talks about personalized medicine when treating patients with melanoma.

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, discusses testing for genetic mutations in patients with melanoma.

Karl Lewis, MD, discusses new and emerging treatments for metastatic melanoma.

Results from a pooled analysis of survival data from 12 studies demonstrated long-term survival benefit in patients with metastatic or locally advanced or unresectable melanoma treated with ipilimumab (Yervoy).

Anthony M. Magliocco, MD, discusses the difficulties of analyzing the genome of melanoma tumors.

High doses of interleukin-2 (IL-2) could be used to treat patients with melanoma whose disease has metastasized to the brain, potentially expanding options in a population facing a grim prognosis, according to researchers from Saint Louis University in Missouri.

Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, the director of the Tumor Immunology Program Area at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the efficacy of ipilimumab for the treatment of melanoma.

The FDA has granted Priority Review designation to dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) as a combination treatment for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma with a BRAFV600E/K mutation.

An investigational MAGE-A3 vaccine failed to significantly extend disease-free survival (DFS) in certain patients with postsurgical melanoma

Jeffrey A. Sosman, MD, from the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, discusses a trial comparing two doses of ipilimumab for patients with metastatic melanoma.

The efficacy of combining two immunotherapy agents will be assessed in a randomized, double-blind phase III study.

Howard L. Kaufman, MD, says that the oncology community is in its infancy in terms of selecting and sequencing immunotherapies for patients with 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.