Melanoma & Skin Cancer

Mohammed M. Milhem, MBBS, discusses the promise of the AST-008 combination in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma and CSCC who do not achieve a response with PD-1 inhibitors alone.

Christian U. Blank, MD, PhD, discusses the promise of neoadjuvant ipilimumab/nivolumab and research efforts examining interferon-gamma signature and tumor mutational burden as potential predictors of response.

Nikhil Khushalani, MD, discusses cemiplimab-rwlc, which has become the preferred agent for the frontline treatment of patients with metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

Grace Cherry, RN, ​MSN, NP, discusses ​recent advances in melanoma. 

Jennifer L. Atlas, MD, discusses the rationale for using cemiplimab-rwlc as a first intervention for patients with locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

Anna C. Pavlick, DO, discusses the benefit of cemiplimab for patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC), the impact of these longer follow-up data, rare, but notable, toxicities that can arise with the agent, and ongoing research efforts aimed at increasing responses to immunotherapy in the CSCC space.

Christian U. Blank, MD, PhD, discusses the future of baseline biomarkers in macroscopic stage 3 melanoma.

The FDA has approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with cobimetinib (Cotellic) and vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 mutation–positive advanced melanoma.

As new data emerge in the melanoma treatment paradigm, new questions have come to light regarding neoadjuvant/adjuvant strategies, reduced dosing for immunotherapy combinations, and approaches following progression on, or resistance to, PD-1 inhibition.

Isabella C. Glitza Oliva, MD, PhD, MS, discusses the prognosis of patients with melanoma brain and/or central nervous system metastases.

Pembrolizumab was found to prolong survival in patients with advanced melanoma, regardless of BRAF V600E/K mutation status or prior administration of a BRAF inhibitor with or without a MEK inhibitor.

Sunandana Chandra, MD, MS, discusses unanswered questions regarding the utility of targeted therapy in melanoma.

Richard L. Shapiro, MD, discusses the utility of complete lymph node dissection in melanoma.

Sunandana Chandra, MD, MS, discusses the incidence of targetable mutations in melanoma.

Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, discusses the future of T-cell therapy in melanoma. 

Immunotherapy and BRAF plus MEK inhibition are the key players in the treatment of patients with melanoma, Michael Postow, MD, said in a presentation during the 2020 ASCO Direct Highlights webcast.

Alexander M. M. Eggermont, MD, PhD, discusses responses to adjuvant pembrolizumab in patients with different subtypes of stage III melanoma.

Christian U. Blank, MD, PhD, discusses adjuvant versus neoadjuvant approaches in macroscopic stage III melanoma.

Lifleucel, a TIL therapy, is being investigated in patients with metastatic melanoma.

A possible optimal sequence of radiation therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors could help to prolong the survival of patients with melanoma who have brain metastases following surgical resection.

The neoadjuvant combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab continues to demonstrate a benefit in RFS compared with the combination given in the adjuvant setting in patients with stage III macroscopic melanoma.

The FDA has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with recurrent or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma that is not curable by surgery or radiation.