Skin Cancer & Melanoma

Dr. Atkins offers his perspective on the “race” between the top two anti-PD1 drugs (Merck’s MK-3475 and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s nivolumab), and weighs in on where a new agent, pidilizumab, fits into the picture.

The presence of regression in melanomas with a Breslow thickness greater than 0.75 mm does not appear to be linked to a higher likelihood of sentinel node involvement, according to the results of a retrospective study.

Long-term results from a phase I study demonstrate that concurrent treatment with ipilimumab and nivolumab led to an unprecedented improvement in survival for patients with advanced melanoma.

The story of how the targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and combinations of these therapies have been developed for use in patients with advanced melanoma holds a number of important lessons for the development of agents for use in other tumor types.

Multiple abstracts on melanoma and skin cancer were reviewed at the ASCO Annual Meeting, with a focus on new treatment approaches in non-melanoma skin cancers, particularly basal cell carcinoma and Merkel cell carcinoma.

The results of a prospective study showed that the risk of developing melanoma is higher for white women with a history of strong sun exposure during childhood and adolescence, rather than adulthood.

The FDA has granted Merck’s anti-PD1 antibody MK-3475 a priority review designation for the treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma in patients who have previously been treated with ipilimumab.

New treatment options for melanoma continue to be developed, especially in the areas of immunotherapies and targeted agents. Oncology nurses need to be knowledgeable about the various therapies being used, indication for use, and the management of adverse events.

Oncolytic viruses are receiving more attention these days as a form of cancer treatment, and have shown promise in clinical trials. These viruses are thought not only to cause direct destruction of the tumor cells, but also to stimulate a patient's immune response.

Results of a preplanned interim analysis of the AVAST-M trial indicate that bevacizumab may have a beneficial effect on disease-free survival in patients with melanoma at high risk for recurrence.

Men who used sildenafil (Viagra) had an 84% increased risk for developing melanoma, even after adjusting for known risk factors, according to the results of a prospective study.

Living alone increased a man’s risk for being diagnosed with later stage melanoma by more than 40%, according to the results of a recent Swedish study.

Nonsentinel lymph node status in melanoma patients who underwent complete lymph node dissection after positive sentinel lymph node biopsy had independent prognostic value.

In a recent study, survivors of either an invasive or in situ melanoma had about five times the risk for a second primary melanoma compared with the general population.

The anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1) drug nivolumab may increase overall survival in patients with advanced melanoma with a safe and acceptable long-term safety profile, according to the results of a recent study.

Sentinel-node biopsy for patients with intermediate-thickness melanomas increased disease-free survival and, in patients positive for nodal metastases, disease-specific survival, according to the final data from the MSLT-I study.

A new study found that a targeted screening and education strategy aimed at patients at high-risk for melanoma favorably affected behaviors that may reduce melanoma risk compared with a standard information-based campaign.

In a new study, melanoma patients who had CD30-positive T cells present in their sentinel lymph nodes were more likely to have disease progression compared with patients whose node biopsies were negative for these immune cells.

Results of a phase II study indicate that the use of 1 month of intravenous high-dose interferon alfa-2b alone for the treatment of melanoma was not superior to the standard long-term regimen, and that further study of this approach is not warranted.

Men with a history of prostate cancer may be at increased risk for melanoma, according to data taken from two large cohort studies.

The completion of a short web-based course improved the ability of primary care physicians to diagnose and manage benign and malignant skin cancer, according to the results of a new study.

At the 10th International Congress of the Society for Melanoma Research (SMR), we spoke with Dr. Georgina Long about current targeted approaches for the treatment of advanced-stage melanoma.

Metastatic melanoma patients treated with a dabrafenib/trametinib combination experienced a 3.6-month increase in overall survival compared with patients treated with dabrafenib alone. The results were not statistically significant, partly due to the crossover design of the trial.

About one-third of patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma treated with MPDL3280A, an antibody against the programmed death 1 ligand (anti-PD-L1) showed a response in a phase I clinical trial.

The PD-1 inhibitor MK-3475 is continuing to show activity and long-term responses in patients with metastatic melanoma, according to results presented at the International Congress of the Society for Melanoma Research.

In patients with thin melanomas who are clinically node-negative, sentinel lymph node biopsy should be offered to patients with melanomas greater than 0.75 mm in Breslow thickness, according to the results of a recent study.

Researchers have identified a biomarker that may help physicians predict if patients with BRAF-mutant melanomas will respond to drugs designed to target BRAF.

Patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma were found to have increased their daily UV radiation dose not only while abroad or on vacation, but also on a daily basis, according to the results of a new study.