In a meta-analysis reported in JAMA Network Open, Mincu et al found that the risk of some types of cardiovascular adverse events was higher with combined BRAF and MEK inhibitor treatment vs BRAF inhibitor monotherapy in patients with melanoma. The meta-analysis included 2,317 patients in five...
In a post hoc 5-year follow-up of the KEYNOTE-006 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Robert et al found that pembrolizumab maintained overall and progression-free survival benefits over ipilimumab in patients with advanced melanoma. In the primary analysis from the trial, both pembrolizumab...
As reported by Topalian et al in JAMA Oncology, long-term follow up of patients from a phase I expansion cohort study indicated 5-year overall survival rates of 34.2%, 27.7%, and 15.6% among patients who received nivolumab monotherapy for advanced melanoma, renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and...
In a nearly 20-year follow-up of a Scandinavian trial reported in The Lancet, Utjés et al found no difference in survival outcomes with 2-cm vs 4-cm surgical excision margins for primary localized cutaneous melanoma with a thickness > 2 mm. The previous report from the trial showed no...
In a phase I trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Bagot et al found that IPH4102—a first-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting KIR3DL2—was safe and showed activity in patients with relapsed or refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, particularly those with Sézary syndrome....
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Long et al, the phase III ECHO-301/KEYNOTE-252 trial showed no improvement in progression-free or overall survival with the addition of the IDO1 inhibitor epacadostat to pembrolizumab in unresectable stage III or stage IV melanoma. Study Details In the...
In the phase II OpACIN-neo study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Rozeman et al identified a promising dosing schedule for neoadjuvant ipilimumab/nivolumab in macroscopic stage III melanoma. Study Design The trial included 86 evaluable patients with resectable stage III melanoma involving the...
In the single-center, phase II NeoCombi trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Long et al found that neoadjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib produced promising response rates in resectable, stage IIIB/C, BRAF V600–mutant melanoma. As noted by the investigators, adjuvant dabrafenib plus...
In an extended analysis of the COMBI-d and COMBI-v trials reported at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9507) and in The New England Journal of Medicine, Robert et al found a 5-year overall survival rate of 34% with the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib in previously untreated...
In a research letter published in JAMA Oncology, Quach et al found that cutaneous toxicities related to anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) treatment—specifically, vitiligo and rash—were associated with improved clinical outcomes in advanced melanoma. Study Details The...
In a study focused on the phase III COMBI-AD trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Schadendorf et al found no difference in patient-reported outcomes with adjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib vs placebo in patients with resected BRAF V600E– or BRAF V600K–mutant stage III melanoma. The...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Dessinioti et al found that thin nodular primary melanomas are associated with aggressive characteristics that may portend poorer prognosis vs superficial spreading melanomas. Study Details The study involved data on 5,062...
In a Dutch study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Jansen et al found that 5% fluorouracil cream was the best of four field-directed treatments for actinic keratosis, the most common premalignant skin disease in the white population. Study Details The study examined the...
In the phase IIIb/IV CheckMate 511 study reported by Lebbé et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a regimen of nivolumab at 3 mg/kg plus ipilimumab at 1 mg/kg (NIVO3+IPI1) was found to significantly reduce the incidence of treatment-related grade 3 to 5 adverse events compared with...
In a phase II trial (Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network-09/Keynote-017) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nghiem et al found that first-line pembrolizumab produced a high response rate in patients with advanced Merkel cell carcinoma. In the multicenter trial, 50 adult patients who had ...
As reported by Willemze and colleagues in Blood, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) have released a 2018 update of their classification of primary cutaneous lymphomas. As noted by the authors, “Primary cutaneous...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Kluger et al, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) showed activity in brain metastases in patients with melanoma enrolled in a phase II study. The study included 23 patients with melanoma with one or more asymptomatic untreated 5- to 20-mm brain metastasis...
As reported by Hauschild et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, longer-term follow-up of the phase III COMBI-AD trial has confirmed improved relapse-free survival with adjuvant dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus trametinib (Mekinist) vs placebo in resected BRAF V600–mutant stage III melanoma. In...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology and at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2018 Congress by Hodi et al, the 4-year follow-up of the phase III CheckMate 067 trial has shown a continued overall survival benefit with first-line nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) or nivolumab alone vs ...
As reported in JAMA Dermatology, Wu and Wood found that the widely available nonprescription topical antimicrobial agent gentian violet has potent activity against cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) in studies in vitro and ex vivo. The study involved high-throughput small molecule screening of 1,710...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in Annals of Internal Medicine, Drucker et al found differences in recurrence rates and patient-reported cosmetic outcomes among various treatments for mostly low-risk primary basal cell carcinoma of the skin. Study Details The study involved data ...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Dummer et al, the phase III COLUMBUS trial has shown a significant improvement in overall survival with the combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib and the MEK inhibitor binimetinib vs vemurafenib in patients with advanced BRAF V600–mutant melanoma. ...
In the phase II CheckMate 204 study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tawbi et al found that combined nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) produced a high rate of intracranial clinical benefit in patients with melanoma brain metastases. Study Details The study included 94...
As reported by Kim and colleagues in The Lancet Oncology, the phase III MAVORIC trial showed that the anti-C-C chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4) monoclonal antibody mogamulizumab (Poteligeo) significantly improved progression-free survival vs vorinostat (Zolinza) among patients with previously treated...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Hauschild et al identified baseline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), performance status, disease burden, and gene signature as potential determinants of treatment outcomes in BRAF V600–mutant metastatic melanoma treated with BRAF and/or MEK inhibitors. Study ...
In the phase III DERMA trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Dreno et al found that an adjuvant MAGE-A3 immunotherapeutic provided no benefit vs placebo in patients with resected MAGE-A3–positive stage IIIB or IIIC melanoma. Development of the agent for use in melanoma has been stopped. The ...
As reported at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9519) and in The New England Journal of Medicine by Migden et al, results of early-phase testing show activity of the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor cemiplimab in advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Currently, no...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Conforti et al found a significant difference in overall survival benefit favoring male vs female patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for advanced cancers. Study Details The study involved database...
In a study reported in JAMA Dermatology, Wang et al found that risk of nodal metastasis was higher for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lip with vermilion vs cutaneous location. Disease-specific and overall survival were similar for the two locations. Study Details The retrospective ...
In a study reported in Annals of Oncology, Andersen et al found that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes isolated from metastatic melanoma lesions in patients with disease progression after checkpoint inhibitor therapy remain functional. Moreover, they concluded these tumor-infiltrating...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Herr et al found that patients with specific types of primary lymphoid neoplasms were at increased risk of second primary cutaneous melanoma, with the reciprocal association also being observed. Occurrence of second primary...
As reported at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting (Abstract CT001) and in The New England Journal of Medicine by Eggermont et al, the phase III EORTC 1325/KEYNOTE 054 trial has shown that adjuvant pembrolizumab (Keytruda) significantly prolonged recurrence-free...
In an Australian phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Long et al found that the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab alone showed intracranial activity in patients with melanoma brain metastases. Study Details In the open-label trial, 76 evaluable...
In a preplanned interim analysis of a phase II trial (JAVELIN Merkel 200 part B) reported in JAMA Oncology, D’Angelo et al found that avelumab was active in the first-line treatment of metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma. Avelumab was approved in March 2017 for treatment of patients aged ≥ 12 ...
In the phase III COLUMBUS trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Dummer et al found that the combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib and the MEK inhibitor binimetinib improved progression-free survival vs vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in patients with advanced BRAF V600–mutant melanoma....
In a phase III trial (SUMIT) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Carvajal et al found that the addition of the oral MEK1/2 inhibitor selumetinib to dacarbazine did not significantly improve progression-free survival in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma. Study Details In the...
In the international phase III BRIM8 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Maio et al found inconclusive evidence of benefit of adjuvant vemurafenib treatment in patients with BRAF V600–mutant melanoma. Study Details In the double-blind trial, 498 patients with fully resected...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Lee et al found that measurement of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can help distinguish between pseudoprogression (radiologic progression prior to response) and true progression in patients with metastatic melanoma receiving anti–programmed cell death ...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, McQuade et al found that obesity was associated with improved outcomes in treatment of metastatic melanoma with targeted therapy or immunotherapy—but not chemotherapy—with a survival benefit appearing to be restricted to obese male patients....
A pooled analysis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has shown a benefit of treatment beyond progression, as defined by RECIST criteria, in many patients receiving anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibodies for unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The analysis was ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Robert and colleagues, a high proportion of patients with metastatic melanoma achieving complete response on pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in the phase Ib KEYNOTE-001 trial maintained complete response for prolonged durations after treatment...
As reported by Long et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a 5-year landmark analysis of patients receiving dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) for BRAF V600–mutant metastatic melanoma shows persistent overall and progression-free survival benefits. Study Details The...
A phase II study has shown that the addition of the oncolytic viral agent talimogene laherparepvec (Imlygic) to ipilimumab (Yervoy) significantly increased the response rate in patients with advanced unresectable melanoma. These findings were reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Chesney...
An Italian single-center prospective cohort study suggests that adjuvant treatment with the beta-blocker propranolol significantly reduces the risk of melanoma recurrence in patients with stage IB to IIIA cutaneous disease. The findings were reported in JAMA Oncology by De Giorgi et al. Preclinical ...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sznol et al have provided a pooled safety profile of combination nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) treatment in patients with advanced melanoma. Study Details The study included data from 448 patients from a phase Ib...
The phase III COMBI-AD trial has shown a significant improvement in relapse-free survival with the combination of the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist) vs placebo as adjuvant therapy in patients with resected stage III melanoma with BRAF V600E or V600K ...
The phase III Checkmate 238 trial has shown improved recurrence-free survival with adjuvant nivolumab (Opdivo) vs ipilimumab (Yervoy) in patients with resected advanced melanoma. The findings were reported by Weber and colleagues in The New England Journal of Medicine. Study Details In the...
Overall survival outcomes in the phase III CheckMate 067 trial indicate improved survival with nivolumab (Opdivo)/ipilimumab (Yervoy) vs ipilimumab and with nivolumab vs ipilimumab in patients with previously untreated advanced melanoma. These findings were reported in The New England Journal of...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Shoushtari et al, a single-center experience has shown a very high rate of clinically significant immune-related adverse events with nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) for advanced melanoma. Their findings suggest that the full course of four doses of...
The final overall survival analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-006 trial showed maintained superiority of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) vs ipilimumab (Yervoy) in advanced melanoma. The results were reported by Schachter et al in The Lancet. An interim analysis showed improved progression-free and overall...