Blood-based biomarker could advance melanoma treatment
Source: Labon Line, November 2023
Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) is emerging as a blood-based biomarker for many solid tumour types, including melanoma. Researchers at The University of Queensland (UQ) have now assessed ctDNA in the blood of patients with BRAF wild-type (BRAF WT) stage III and IV melanoma, finding that measuring ctDNA may lead to alternative treatment options and better outcomes.
Approximately 40–50% of all patients with late-stage cutaneous melanoma have a BRAF p.V600 mutation; in these patients, treatment with selective BRAF and MEK inhibitors significantly prolongs both progression-free survival and overall survival. Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy shows promising results when combined with targeted therapies in patients with BRAF p.V600-positive tumours; longer overall survival is observed when ICI therapies are combined. However, BRAF WT patients or patients harbouring an alternative BRAF variant do not benefit from these combinatorial ICI therapies.
“Current clinical practice means both BRAF WT and BRAF p.V600 positive patients receive ICI therapy; however, they do not all benefit,” said lead investigators Dr Vanessa F Bonazzi and Dr Lauren G Aoude, from UQ’s Frazer Institute. “We urgently need to identify biomarkers predictive of disease recurrence and response to alternative therapies after ICI failure.