Prior treatments influence immunotherapy response in advanced melanoma
Source: Consultant 360, April 2023
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.
“In our large set of data, features that have been used to predict response to anti-PD-1 checkpoint blockade therapy – often called biomarkers –related to the presence of certain immune cell types in the tumor and the genetic profile of the tumors themselves were modified by a patient’s treatment history,” said lead author Katie Campbell, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in hematology/oncology at UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.