Immunotherapy response in advanced melanoma influenced by prior treatments Study

Source: Medical Dialogues, April 2023

Overview
When a patient is diagnosed with advanced melanoma, they usually are treated with immune therapies like anti-PD-1 blockade and anti-CTLA-4 blockade, in combination or alone. By blocking different proteins that diminish the effectiveness of T cells, these checkpoint inhibitors enhance the body’s immune response to cancer.

Research led by scientists at UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found that responses to a type of immunotherapy called PD-1 checkpoint blockade in patients with advanced melanoma depended on whether or not they had previously received another immunotherapy – CTLA-4 Blockade-as well as other factors.

Their findings, based on analysis of seven data sets generated over the past decade, which included results of tumor biopsies from more than 500 patients, are published in Cancer Cell.
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