Looking Ahead for Melanoma Treatment
Source: Targeted Oncology, May 2024
While checkpoint inhibitors are a mainstay in the field of advanced melanoma treatment, novel and reimagined therapies offer new hope for this challenging disease state. These therapies include using older agents like interluekin-2 (IL-2) or tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and modifying them to make their activity more potent against melanoma. Additionally, oncolytic vaccines administered into the tumor or systemically can help to sensitize the immune system and improve the response to checkpoint inhibitors.
Here, Jose Lutzky, MD, skin cancer physician at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, discusses the ongoing research in this field.
0:05 | We have a pretty robust clinical research program for melanoma. We have a couple of trials in which we are modifying the T cells to be more targeted. And 1 of the problems with this approach is that when we do that, patients have to have a specific type of immune system or so-called HLA type. And, and sometimes, you know, the the HLA type that we target, it reaches only sometimes 40 to 50% of the population. We’re doing other trials now that are targeting other HLA types to try to offer this to more people. We’re also doing trials with modified cytokines.