Dr. Triebel on Novel Immunotherapy Combination in Melanoma

Frederic Triebel, MD, PhD, chief scientific officer and chief medical director, Immutep Ltd, discusses a novel immunotherapy combination under investigation in patients with melanoma.

PD-1 inhibitors, such as nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) have dramatically improved outcomes for patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma. While checkpoint inhibition likely represents the future of treatment in this space, there are still patients who are do not respond to immunotherapy. Triebel says there is a study looking at combining PD-1 inhibition with antigen-presenting cells.

By combining pembrolizumab (Keytruda) with antigen-presenting cells, researchers are attempting to block 2 checkpoints at the same time in patients with melanoma. The goal is to induce more activated T cells to return to the tumor and allow the body to naturally fight off the cancer with the immune system. This combination may allow for more patients to respond to anti-PD—1 therapy, Triebel concludes.