Melanoma

Article from GenomeWeb curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the drug pembrolizumab (brand name Keytruda) for solid tumors based solely on whether they have a high tumor mutational burden—a high number of changes in the DNA of the cancer cells.

Go to full article published by GenomeWeb.

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Curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes:

Excerpt:

“A single dose of a programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor before resection for melanoma may predict clinical outcomes for patients. Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania—who documented this finding in the largest cohort of patients to be treated with anti–PD-1 drugs before surgery—also showed that immune responses brought on by this therapy can peak as early as 7 days after treatment—much earlier than previous studies have shown. These findings were published by Huang et al in Nature Medicine.”

Go to full article published by The ASCO Post on March 7, 2019.

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Excerpt:

“Individuals with an inherited form of skin cancer often have a poor prognosis. The type of immunotherapy that was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is, however, particularly effective in this patient group, research from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows. The study is published in the Journal of Medical Genetics.

“Congenital mutations of the CDKN2A gene are the strongest known risk factors for inherited skin cancer. Individuals with melanoma who carry mutations in this gene also have poor prognosis, according to previous research.”

Go to full article published by Medical Xpress on Oct 8, 2018.

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Excerpt from MedPage Today:

“Combination neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockade therapy yielded promising outcomes in high-risk resectable melanoma, although toxicity was an issue, according to a phase II trial.

“The combination of ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo) led to improved progression-free survival (PFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and overall survival (OS) versus neoadjuvant nivolumab monotherapy in 23 patients with high-risk resectable melanoma, reported Jennifer A. Wargo, MD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues in Nature Medicine.”

Go to full article published by MedPage Today on Oct 11, 2018.

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Excerpt from Cancer Network:

“The combination of encorafenib and binimetinib resulted in longer overall survival (OS) compared with vemurafenib in patients with BRAF V600–mutant melanoma, according to results of the COLUMBUS trial. Combined with an earlier report showing improved progression-free survival (PFS), this suggests the regimen should become an important option in this setting.

“Small-molecule BRAF inhibitors, originally introduced as monotherapy, offered improvements in outcomes for these melanoma patients. ‘However, response durations were short and BRAF inhibitor treatment was associated with the development of squamous cell skin cancer and other skin toxicities related to paradoxical MAPK pathway activation,’ wrote study authors led by Reinhard Dummer, MD, of University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland. Combinations of BRAF and MEK inhibition have improved the situation further, but better treatment options are still needed.”

Go to full article published by Cancer Network on Sep 26, 2018.

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Excerpt from Cancer Network:

“A phase I trial found promising activity and good tolerability with the combination of pembrolizumab and a stimulant of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) known as SD-101 in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma, particularly in those who had not received prior anti–programmed death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) therapy.

“PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition has improved outcomes in metastatic melanoma, and studies have indicated that combination therapy can increase immune responses further. “Despite the improvement in response rates with combination immunotherapy, a large unmet need remains,” wrote study authors led by Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.”

Go to full article published by Cancer Network on Sep 5, 2018.

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Excerpt from The ASCO Post:

“In patients with advanced BRAF V600–mutant melanoma, combining the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib (Braftovi) with the MEK inhibitor binimetinib (Mektovi) improved overall survival compared to vemurafenib (Zelboraf) or encorafenib as monotherapy, with a favorable toxicity profile, according to updated results from the phase III COLUMBUS trial.

“Combined BRAF/MEK inhibitor therapy is standard of care in advanced BRAF V600–mutant melanoma, but approved combinations have unique toxicities that may impact the ability to deliver optimal treatment (ie, vemurafenib/cobimetinib [Cotellic] is associated with photosensitivity).”

Go to full article published by The ASCO Post on Sep 10, 2018.

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Excerpt from Medscape:

“Combined immunotherapy with two checkpoint inhibitors — nivolumab (Opdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb) and ipilimumab (Yervoy, Bristol-Myers Squibb) — has shown ‘clinically meaningful’ efficacy in patients with asymptomatic, untreated melanoma metastases to the brain, according to a report regarding new data from the CheckMate 204 open-label phase 2 study.

” ‘Although current practice is to start with surgery, stereotactic radiotherapy, or both followed by immunotherapy or targeted agents, our results support the initiation of immunotherapy to achieve prompt control of both extracranial and brain metastases,’ write the authors.”

Go to full article published by Medscape on Aug 22, 2018.

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Excerpt:

“ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) have submitted recommended language to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for five guidance documents on ways to broaden eligibility criteria for cancer clinical trials. The recommendations are part of an ASCO and Friends collaboration to broaden eligibility for participating in clinical trials by addressing five specific areas: minimum age requirements for trial enrollment, HIV/AIDS status, brain metastases, organ dysfunction, and prior and concurrent malignancies.”

Go to full article published by The ASCO Post on Aug 9, 2018.

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Excerpt:

“At first glance, a bill passed by the House of Representatives this week seems like the kind of thing anyone could get behind.

“Known as the “Right to Try” legislation, it would allow terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs without the approval of the Food and Drug Administration.

“But the bill and a similar one passed last summer by the Senate do little to address the main barrier that patients face in getting unapproved treatments: permission from the drug companies themselves.”

Go to full article published by The New York Times on Mar 23, 2018.

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Article from Medscape curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

Depression is, for obvious reasons, common in patients with advanced cancer. The old, inexpensive drug ketamine—already approved for medical use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—seems rapidly effective, according to small studies.

Go to full article published by Medscape.

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Excerpt:

“People with a type of skin cancer who consumed a high-fiber diet responded better to immunotherapy treatment than those with poorer diets, according to data presented at a media preview of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting.

“Melanoma is a type of skin cancer which although very treatable if caught early, still kills approximately 9,000 Americans a year, mainly people who are diagnosed a more advanced stage of disease where the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.”

Go to full article published by Forbes on Feb 27, 2019.

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Article from ASCO Daily News curated by Director of Scientific and Clinical Affairs, Lola Rahib, PhD.

In collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Cancer Commons presented new research at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)’s virtual 2020 meeting. The findings show that, by 2040, we will likely see notable changes in which cancer types are most common and which are most deadly, highlighting the influence of cancer screening programs. This research was led by Dr. Rahib at Cancer Commons.

Go to full article published by ASCO Daily News.

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Article from The ASCO Post curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

Go to full article published by The ASCO Post.

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Article from The Philadelphia Inquirer curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

A new Pennsylvania law requires insurance coverage for use of FDA-approved best drugs first, rather than only after failing with a cheaper alternative.

Go to full article published by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Research paper from Nature curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

A massive study of thousands of cancers that explores the genomic basis for cancer is being reported simultaneously in dozens of journals. Nature has published this summary article.

Go to full paper published in Nature.

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Article from GenomeWeb curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some clinical trials have gone virtual.

Go to full article published by GenomeWeb.

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Excerpt from a National Geographic article:

“For now, the sole intervention for vulnerable cancer patients is social distancing and enhanced hygiene practices for their family and health care workers.”

Go to full article published by National Geographic.

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Article from the American Society of Clinical Oncology curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

For now, the only definite preventive measures vulnerable patients with cancer can use for themselves and their families are scrupulous social distancing and enhanced personal hygiene; i.e., wash your hands. For more details, ASCO is an authoritative source:

Go to full article published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

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