Biomarker Hunt Finds Potential With ctDNA in Melanoma

Source: OncLive, January 2020

As the search for blood- and tissue-based biomarkers continues in localized and metastatic melanoma, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has emerged as a potential candidate for patients with BRAF-mutated disease, said David Polsky, MD, PhD.

“Many years ago, we heard critiques from grant reviewers who said, ‘You don’t have any good treatments, so what do you need a biomarker for?’” said Polsky. “Now we have a lot of treatments, combinations, and different sequencing [strategies], where biomarkers may help us guide those treatments as well as new treatments coming down the pike."

In an attempt to identify a blood-based biomarker in melanoma, a large-scale, plasma sample analysis evaluated a pooled population of patients with unresectable or metastatic BRAF V600E/K–positive melanoma from the phase III COMBI-d trial. Investigators measured patients’ BRAF V600E/K ctDNA at baseline and 4 weeks after starting treatment with either the combination of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) or dabrafenib alone.