Source: NYU Langone Health, June 2025
Results from a new study help resolve the decade-long mystery of why many patients with the deadliest form of skin cancer do not respond to the latest cancer treatments. Specifically, researchers found patients with metastatic melanoma who did not respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors had DNA with differences not found in the DNA of those who did respond. These genetic differences are both testable and predictive of who is least likely to respond to checkpoint therapies, a treatment class that has become a mainstay against the disease.
Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center, the study included a genetic analysis of blood samples from patients participating in the landmark CheckMate-067 phase 3 trial, which tested frontline use of checkpoint inhibitors to treat their metastatic melanoma.