Perspectives in Melanoma: Meeting Report From the Melanoma Bridge (December 1st–3rd, 2022-Naples, Italy)

Authors

Paolo A Ascierto
Sanjiv S Agarwala
Allison Betof Warner
Marc S Ernstoff
Bernard A Fox
Thomas F Gajewski
Jérôme Galon
Claus Garbe
Brian R Gastman
Jeffrey E Gershenwald
Pawel Kalinski
Michelle Krogsgaard
Rom S Leidner
Roger S Lo
Alexander M Menzies
Olivier Michielin
Poulikos I Poulikakos
Jeffrey S Weber
Corrado Caracò
Iman Osman
Igor Puzanov
Magdalena Thurin

Publication Date

7-28-2023

Journal

Journal of Translational Medicine

Abstract

Outcomes for patients with melanoma have improved over the past decade with the clinical development and approval of immunotherapies targeting immune checkpoint receptors such as programmed death-1 (PD-1), programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) or cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4). Combinations of these checkpoint therapies with other agents are now being explored to improve outcomes and enhance benefit-risk profiles of treatment. Alternative inhibitory receptors have been identified that may be targeted for anti-tumor immune therapy, such as lymphocyte-activation gene-3 (LAG-3), as have several potential target oncogenes for molecularly targeted therapy, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Unfortunately, many patients still progress and acquire resistance to immunotherapy and molecularly targeted therapies. To bypass resistance, combination treatment with immunotherapies and single or multiple TKIs have been shown to improve prognosis compared to monotherapy. The number of new combinations treatment under development for melanoma provides options for the number of patients to achieve a therapeutic benefit. Many diagnostic and prognostic assays have begun to show clinical applicability providing additional tools to optimize and individualize treatments. However, the question on the optimal algorithm of first- and later-line therapies and the search for biomarkers to guide these decisions are still under investigation. This year, the Melanoma Bridge Congress (Dec 1st-3rd, 2022, Naples, Italy) addressed the latest advances in melanoma research, focusing on themes of paramount importance for melanoma prevention, diagnosis and treatment. This included sessions dedicated to systems biology on immunotherapy, immunogenicity and gene expression profiling, biomarkers, and combination treatment strategies.

Keywords

Melanoma, Immunotherapy, Anti-PD-1, Anti-CTLA-4, Target therapy, Biomarkers, BRAF inhibitor, MEK inhibitor, Adjuvant, Neoadjuvant, Combination strategies, Italy

Comments

PMID: 37507765