Treatment with nab-paclitaxel resulted in significantly improved progression-free survival and a greater disease control rate in chemotherapy-naive patients with metastatic melanoma compared with dacarbazine, according to the results of a study published recently in Annals of Oncology.
MRV Research
T-VEC Combined With Pembrolizumab Shows Safety in Melanoma
Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), an attenuated oncolytic virus, combined with pembrolizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, passed an early safety evaluation for unresectable melanoma, reported investigators at this year’s European Cancer Congress (ECC).1
A Preclinical Tale for Melanoma: The Aspirin and the Antibody
A preclinical study using mouse and human melanoma cell lines published in a September, 2015, issue of Cell, outlines mechanisms by which melanoma can evade the immune system. They found that cyclooxygenase (COX)-driven prostaglandin E2 enables malignant growth of melanoma through evasion of immune mechanisms, and suggest that COX inhibitors could be useful adjuvants for immune-based therapies.1
Nivolumab Before Ipilimumab Has Greater Efficacy, Similar AEs
Two strategies of sequential immunotherapy for advanced melanoma showed similar safety and tolerability but substantially different efficacy, according to a late-breaking abstract presented at the 2015 European Cancer Congress.1