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In a phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Omid Hamid, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of the human lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3)-targeting monoclonal antibody fianlimab plus the PD-1–targeting monoclonal antibody cemiplimab-rwlc was active in patients...
A novel algorithm may help physicians to identify which patients have a highly aggressive subtype of facial basal cell carcinoma, according to a recent study published by Ceder et al in Dermatology Practical & Conceptual. Background Basal cell carcinoma—the most common type of skin...
As a first-line treatment of advanced melanoma, the triplet immunotherapy regimen of nivolumab, relatlimab-rmbw, and ipilimumab produced high response rates and promising progression-free and overall survival in the nonrandomized phase I/II RELATIVITY-048 trial, as reported by Paolo Antonio...
Researchers have demonstrated that spatial gene signatures may enhance the prediction of immunotherapy outcomes in patients with melanoma, according to a recent study published by Aung et al in Clinical Cancer Research. The current gene signatures used to predict immunotherapy outcomes may lack...
The Melanoma Research Alliance is on a mission to cure and prevent melanoma, a skin cancer that is diagnosed in more than 100,000 people each year and is expected to take the lives of more than 8,000 individuals in 2024.1 We invite stakeholders across all fields, including medicine, science, and...
As reported at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9500) and in The New England Journal of Medicine by Georgina V. Long, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the final, 8-year follow-up analysis of the phase III COMBI-AD trial has shown continued improvements in relapse-free and distant metastasis–free...
On June 18, the first patient was randomized into the PRISM-MEL-301 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT06112314), which is assessing the efficacy and safety of brenetafusp (also known as IMC-F106C; PRAME-A02) in combination with nivolumab in the first-line setting of advanced or metastatic...
Researchers uncovered potential mechanisms driving drug resistance in patients with melanoma and leptomeningeal disease, according to a recent study published by Alhaddad et al in Cell Reports Medicine. Background Leptomeningeal disease is a rare and often lethal complication experienced by about...
Results of the phase III NADINA trial support a new standard of care for the treatment of resectable macroscopic stage III melanoma. Treatment with preoperative ipilimumab plus nivolumab followed by total lymph node dissection, with adjuvant therapy guided by depth of response, led to a highly...
Georgina V. Long, MD, PhD, of the Melanoma Institute Australia and The University of Sydney, discusses final results with up to 10 years’ follow-up data of the COMBI-AD study of patients with stage III BRAF-mutated melanoma who received adjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib (Abstract 9500).
Omid Hamid, MD, of The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, a Cedars-Sinai affiliate, discusses updated data on IMC-F106C, a novel bispecific protein that, in a phase I safety and efficacy study, exhibited clinical activity in patients with unresectable or metastatic cutaneous melanoma who were pretreated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. A phase III trial of IMC-F106C with nivolumab in the first-line setting of metastatic disease has been initiated (NCT06112314; Abstract 9507).
Axel Hauschild, MD, of Germany’s University of Kiel and University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, discusses phase III study results on neoadjuvant intralesional daromun vs immediate surgery for patients with fully resectable, locally advanced melanoma (Abstract LBA9501).
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy given for stage III melanoma—followed by adjuvant therapy only if there is not a deep response to treatment—may produce better outcomes for patients than the current standard of care, which is adjuvant immunotherapy alone. These results from the NADINA trial were presented ...
Pauline Funchain, MD, of Stanford University and the Stanford Cancer Institute, and Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, of Italy’s Istituto Nazionale Tumori and IRCCS Fondazione G. Pascale, discuss efficacy and safety findings of the triplet therapy nivolumab, relatlimab-rmbw, and ipilimumab in patients with advanced melanoma (Abstract 9504).
Pauline Funchain, MD, of Stanford University, and Caroline Robert, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy, discuss phase II findings showing that combining encorafenib and binimetinib followed by ipilimumab and nivolumab vs ipilimumab and nivolumab can improve progression-free survival in patients with BRAF-V600E/K-mutated melanoma characterized by high lactate dehydrogenase and liver metastases (Abstract LBA9503).
Christian U. Blank, MD, PhD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, discusses findings of an investigator-initiated phase III trial showing that neoadjuvant ipilimumab plus nivolumab followed by response-driven adjuvant treatment improved event-free survival in patients with macroscopic, resectable stage III melanoma compared with adjuvant nivolumab (LBA2)
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® published its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) in 1996, covering eight tumor types. Currently, guidelines are available for more than 60 tumor types, subtypes, and related topics. The NCCN’s 29th Annual Conference...
Investigators may have uncovered sex-based disparities in the detection and survival of melanoma in Black patients, according to a recent study published by Steadman et al in the Journal of Surgical Oncology. Background Melanoma is an aggressive type of skin cancer that accounts for about 75% of...
Douglas B. Johnson, MD, MSCI, of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, discusses updated guidelines on the use of neoadjuvant therapy, as well as first- and later-line systemic therapies to treat patients with cutaneous melanoma.
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Barker et al found that induction treatment with vismodegib followed by concurrent treatment with vismodegib and curative-intent radiation therapy showed efficacy in patients with locally advanced unresectable basal cell carcinoma. ...
Sophia McKinley, MD, EdM, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses patterns of recurrence in patients with resected cutaneous melanoma during or after adjuvant immunotherapy. She identifies the risk factors associated with overall survival and treatment failure (Abstract 60).
Researchers may have uncovered the mechanisms behind conventional immunotherapy resistance as well as the efficacy of adoptive therapy in metastatic uveal melanoma, according to a recent study published by Leonard-Murali et al in Nature Communications. The findings demonstrated the potential to...
Researchers may have uncovered the mechanisms behind the development of targeted therapy resistance in melanoma, according to a recent study published by Aya Moreno et al in Cell Reports. Background The global incidence of melanoma—the deadliest type of skin cancer—is rising, making novel...
Jenny H. Chang, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, discusses the current surgical and radiologic treatment paradigm for patients with stage III Merkel cell carcinoma and the potential for neoadjuvant immunotherapy to help manage the disease and regional lymph node metastases (Abstract 67).
A novel oncolytic immunotherapy may show antitumor activity in solid organ transplant recipients with skin cancer, according to new findings presented by Migden et al at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 (Abstract CT003). Background "Organ transplant recipients ...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Stassen et al developed a model for the prediction of recurrence-free and melanoma-specific survival after sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in patients with melanoma. Study Details The study involved a development cohort of 4,071 patients aged > 13...
On October 13, 2023, nivolumab was approved for adjuvant treatment of completely resected stage IIB/C melanoma in patients aged 12 years and older.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the double-blind CheckMate 76K trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT04099251), in which...
On February 16, 2024, lifileucel (Amtagvi), a tumor-derived autologous T-cell immunotherapy, was granted accelerated approval for adults with unresectable or metastatic melanoma previously treated with a PD-1–blocking antibody, and if BRAF V600 mutation–positive, a BRAF inhibitor with or without a...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, and colleagues, the final prespecified analysis of distant metastasis–free survival in the phase III KEYNOTE-716 trial showed continued benefit with adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with resected stage IIB or...
Christopher A. Barker, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses phase II study results showing that patients with locally advanced, unresectable basal cell carcinoma of the head and neck experienced improved quality of life after induction and concurrent vismodegib with curative-intent radiation treatment. According to Dr. Barker, the data on this strategy may provide a beneficial benchmark for clinical practice (Abstract 9).
On February 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to lifileucel (Amtagvi), a tumor-derived autologous T-cell immunotherapy, for adult patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma who were previously treated with a PD-1 blocking antibody, or, if they have...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Varey et al developed the Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) calculator for predicting recurrence-free and overall survival in stage II melanoma and found that it outperformed modeling based on American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)-8th...
In a small phase I/II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Schenk et al found that treatment with tacrolimus, prednisone, and nivolumab without or with ipilimumab produced few responses in kidney transplant recipients with advanced skin cancers, with treatment-related allograft loss...
Researchers may have uncovered a novel epigenetic pathway involved in the development of treatment resistance in melanoma and a chemical reagent that may be effective in resensitizing treatment-resistant tumors to targeted therapies, according to a recent study published by Wu et al in The Journal...
In a small single-center phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Glenn J. Hanna, MD, and colleagues found that immunosuppressant treatment with an mTOR inhibitor and prednisone plus immunotherapy with cemiplimab-rwlc resulted in durable responses and no allograft loss in adult...
In the phase IIb KEYNOTE-942 trial reported in The Lancet, Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the addition of adjuvant mRNA-4157—a novel mRNA-based individualized neoantigen therapy—to pembrolizumab numerically improved recurrence-free survival in patients with completely resected ...
A prospective pilot study investigating the use of early fluorodeoxyglucose F-18 (FDG) positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in patients with advanced melanoma has found that metabolic changes in melanoma metastases detected on early FDG PET/CT imaging are potentially predictive ...
Over 50% of all melanoma diagnoses among White patients in the United States may in fact be overdiagnoses, according to a recent study published by Adamson et al in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine. Background “Cases of cutaneous melanoma have risen significantly in the [United States] over the last 40...
A recent study underscored the need for integrating cost-of-care conversations in cancer treatment. Results of the population-based analysis, presented at the 2023 ASCO Quality Care Symposium,1 showed that only about 25% of patients with newly diagnosed advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)...
A rare subset of T cells called V-delta 1 gamma-delta (Vd1-gd) T cells could help predict which patients with advanced skin cancer may be responsive to immunotherapy, according to a novel study published by Davies et al in Nature Cancer. The new findings may lead to the development of new and more...
This is Part 4 of Evolving Skin Cancer Management, a four-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this Roundtable. In this video, Drs. Pauline Funchain, Alison Vidimos, and Lisa Zaba review the case of a 32-year-old patient who recently gave birth to her first child; following childbirth, she noticed a suspicious lesion on her thigh. A biopsy confirms that the lesion is a melanoma, with a Breslow depth of 3 mm. In the conversation that follows, the faculty note the rising incidence of skin cancer in people younger than 40, including melanoma, and also point out skin changes during pregnancy that may warrant surveillance in the perinatal and postnatal periods. They also discuss the debate surrounding the role of prognostic gene expression profiling in this patient population.
This is Part 3 of Evolving Skin Cancer Management, a four-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this Roundtable. In this video, Drs. Pauline Funchain, Alison Vidimos, and Lisa Zaba discuss the importance of early detection and multidisciplinary treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma. The patient is a 72-year-old male with a history of extensive sun exposure. He presents with a rapidly growing, firm—but painless—1.5 cm nodule on the back of his hand. In the conversation that follows, the faculty emphasize the importance of early detection and timely diagnosis of Merkel cell carcinoma due to its aggressive natural history, rapid growth, and lack of distinguishing clinical features; touch on the multidisciplinary collaboration between dermatology, surgery, and oncology necessary for optimal care; and discuss upcoming data on the role of adjuvant immunotherapy for this malignancy.
This is Part 2 of Evolving Skin Cancer Management, a four-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this Roundtable. In this video, Drs. Pauline Funchain, Alison Vidimos, and Lisa Zaba review how the multidisciplinary team comes together to treat cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. The patient is a 65-year-old man with a history of long-term sun exposure and has had multiple actinic keratoses. He presents to dermatology with a large, aggressive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma on his cheek; it is approximately 4 cm. He also has a history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, for which he is undergoing observation. In the conversation that follows, the faculty discuss how a multidisciplinary team of practitioners may come together to care for this patient, and discuss if and when they would consider treatment options such as surgery, radiation, and systemic therapy.
This is Part 1 of Evolving Skin Cancer Management, a four-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this Roundtable. In this video, Drs. Pauline Funchain, Alison Vidimos, and Lisa Zaba discuss nonsurgical treatment options for basal cell carcinoma. The patient is a 68-year-old female who presents with a 1.5 cm nodular lesion on her nose. A biopsy shows that the lesion is indeed a basal cell carcinoma, with no signs of aggressive growth or invasion. The patient is concerned about undergoing surgery due to the risk of facial scarring and wants to know more about alternative, nonsurgical treatment options. In the conversation that follows, the faculty discuss nonsurgical options for patients with basal cell carcinoma, including photodynamic therapy, laser therapy, topical agents, hedgehog inhibitors, immunotherapy, and more.
For the treatment of advanced melanoma that is refractory to anti–PD-1 antibodies, there is no standard approach. The various options, with a look to the future, were discussed by Melinda L. Yushak, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Hematology and Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine, at...
Individuals who experience occupational exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation may have a high rate of nonmelanoma skin cancer incidence and mortality, according to a recent study published by Pega et al in Environment International. These findings highlighted the large and increasing burden...
The risk of developing skin cancer may be twofold for patients with lymphedema, according to a recent study published by Anand et al in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The new findings may contribute to growing information linking lymphedema to localized changes in immunity and a predisposition for...
In an analysis presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 (Abstract LBA50) and reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jessica C. Hassel, MD, and colleagues, overall survival at 3 years in the phase III IMCgp100-202 trial continued to favor...
Investigators have uncovered that only about 25% of patients newly diagnosed with advanced cancer have documented physician discussions about the costs of care, which may make it more difficult to identify patient needs and track the outcomes of referrals for assistance, according to new findings...
In exploratory analyses of results from the SWOG S1801 trial in patients with stage III to IV resectable melanoma, researchers saw a major pathologic response in more than half of surgical specimens taken from patients who had been treated with neoadjuvant pembrolizumab. These and other results of...