Nivolumab Shows Promise in Mucosal Melanoma

Source: Cancer Network, November 2015

Nivolumab alone or in combination with ipilimumab are promising treatment options for patients with mucosal melanoma, according to a new study presented at the Society for Melanoma Research 2015 International Congress, held November 18–21 in San Francisco.

Mucosal melanoma is a rare but aggressive melanoma subtype that is more resistant to treatment than cutaneous melanoma, said Dr. James Larkin, medical oncologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. In patients with metastatic mucosal melanoma, the CTLA-4 immune checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab has demonstrated response rates in the range of 7% to 12%, a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 2.7 to 4.3 months, and a median overall survival of 6.4 months.

Dr. Larkin and colleagues conducted a pooled analysis of data from six trials of metastatic melanoma patients who received the programmed death-1 (PD-1)-inhibitor nivolumab, ipilimumab, or a combination of the two. Among the 889 patients treated, 86 patients with mucosal melanoma were treated with nivolumab, 36 mucosal melanoma patients were treated with ipilimumab, and 35 patients with mucosal melanoma were treated with the combination.