Study results show immunotherapy before and after surgery for advanced melanoma lowers recurrence risk
Source: UT Health San Antonio, March 2023
Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio melanoma expert Monte Shaheen, MD, was part of a team of investigators that conducted a phase II clinical trial funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to determine the efficacy and safety of administering the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab before and after surgery in high-risk melanoma patients.
Recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the results of the clinical trial show participants with stage III and IV melanoma who were given pembrolizumab before and after surgery (neoadjuvant-adjuvant therapy) had significantly lower risks of recurring cancer than participants who received the drug only after surgery (adjuvant-only).
Neoadjuvant therapies are delivered before the main treatment to help reduce the size of a tumor or eradicate cancer cells that have spread. Adjuvant therapies are delivered after the primary treatment to destroy the remaining cancer cells. For this study, patients showed favorable outcomes for the neoadjuvant-adjuvant pembrolizumab in advanced melanoma.