When to stop immunotherapy for advanced melanoma: the emulated target trials.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have demonstrated their efficacy with a 7.5-year overall survival (OS) close to 50% for advanced stages. The design of clinical trials provides for treatment until progression or toxicity, or for a maximum duration of two years.

Efficacy and Tolerability of Tebentafusp in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma: A Real-life Retrospective Multicentre Study.

Metastatic uveal melanoma is a rare disease with a poor prognosis. Usual treatments have not proven effective. Tebentafusp, a bispecific protein targeting melanoma cells and T lymphocytes, is the first approved treatment with a proven survival benefit in a randomized clinical.

Methods of nivolumab administration in advanced melanoma: A comparison of patients' clinical outcomes treated with flat dose or weight-adjusted dose, a multicenter observational study.

Background: Nivolumab obtained approval in advanced melanoma (AM) with weight-adjusted dose (WAD) administration (3 mg/kg/2 weeks). In 2018, the dosage regimen was changed to flat dose (FD) administration (240 mg/2 weeks or 480 mg/4 weeks) based on a modeling study, without clinical data.

Methods: AM patients have been prospectively included in the French national multicenter MelBase database since 2013.

The efficacy and safety of first-line metastatic melanoma treatment with ipilimumab + nivolumab versus nivolumab in a real-world setting.

Background: The Checkmate 067 randomized controlled trial, published in 2015, demonstrated improved progression-free survival and numerically, although not statistically, superior overall survival for ipilimumab + nivolumab. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of nivolumab to ipilimumab + nivolumab as first-line treatment for metastatic melanoma in a real-world setting.

Methods: Patients were prospectively included in the French Melbase cohort from 2013 to 2022.

Resolution of immune checkpoint inhibitors-induced inflammatory arthritis while maintaining active treatment with checkpoint inhibitors and after its discontinuation: An observational study.

Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitors-induced inflammatory arthritis (ICI-IA) affects about 5% of ICI recipients. We aimed (1) to characterize the resolution of ICI-IA during ICI treatment and after ICI discontinuation and (2) to assess how ICI-IA influences ICI management across time.

Methods: All ICI-treated patients referred to rheumatology at Bordeaux University Hospital were identified and patients with ICI-IA with a follow-up of≥6months after ICI-IA onset were included.

Prospective assessment of circulating tumor DNA in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma treated with tebentafusp.

Tebentafusp, a bispecific immune therapy, is the only drug that demonstrated an overall survival benefit in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma (MUM). Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has emerged as a potential prognostic and predictive marker in the phase 3 IMCgp100-202 trial using multiplex PCR-based next-generation sequencing (NGS). In this study (NCT02866149), ctDNA dynamics were assessed using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) in 69 MUM patients undergoing tebentafusp treatment.

Safety of immune checkpoint inhibitor rechallenge after severe immune-related adverse events: a retrospective analysis.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) present clinicians with the challenge of managing immune-related adverse events (irAEs), which can range from mild to severe due to immune system activation . While guidelines recommend discontinuing ICIs for grade 3 partial and all grade 4 irAEs, there is growing interest in rechallenging patients based on oncological outcomes, particularly for cardiovascular and neurological irAEs where data remains scarce . We retrospectively evaluated the safety of ICI rechallenge following grade 3-4 irAEs, specifically focusing on cardiovascular and neurological events, in patients discussed at our multidisciplinary immunotoxicity assessment board between 2019 and 2021.

Final Results for Adjuvant Dabrafenib plus Trametinib in Stage III Melanoma.

Background: The 5-year results of this trial showed that adjuvant therapy with dabrafenib plus trametinib resulted in longer relapse-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival than placebo among patients with V600-mutated stage III melanoma. Longer-term data were needed, including data regarding overall survival.

Methods: We randomly assigned 870 patients with resected stage III melanoma with V600 mutations to receive 12 months of dabrafenib (150 mg twice daily) plus trametinib (2 mg once daily) or two matched placebos.

Improved survival over time with immunotherapy in locally advanced and metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas.

Purpose: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is the second most common cancer in white-skinned populations. There is little information on the epidemiology of cSCC, and even less on advanced cases (acSCC). Therefore, we analyzed acSCC patients to describe their characteristics, management, and outcomes over time.

Plain language summary of the CheckMate 76K study results: nivolumab given after stage 2B/2C melanoma is removed by surgery.

What Is This Summary About?: In this article, we summarize results from the ongoing phase 3 CheckMate 76K clinical study published online in in October 2023. The study goal was to learn whether nivolumab works as an adjuvant therapy (that is, helps to keep cancer from coming back when it is given after surgery) for stage 2 melanoma (skin cancer) that has not spread to other parts of the body. Nivolumab is an immunotherapy that activates a person's immune system so it can destroy cancer cells.

Clinical impact of proton pump inhibitors and other co-medications on advanced melanoma patients treated with BRAF/MEK inhibitors.

Purpose: While several studies reported the influence of co-medications on immune checkpoint therapy and chemotherapy, it remains poorly studied with targeted therapy. Targeted therapies inhibiting BRAF and MEK had significantly improved management of advanced melanoma with BRAFV600 mutation over the last decade, we aimed to investigate the possible influence of co-mediations on the efficacy and toxicity of these targeted therapies (TT).

Methods: We conducted an observational study identifying patients with advanced melanoma treated with BRAF/MEK inhibitors between 2013 and 2020 in the Bordeaux University Hospital.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor rechallenge in patients who previously experienced immune-related inflammatory arthritis: a multicentre observational study.

Objective: Another course of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is often considered in patients with cancer progression and previous immune-related adverse events, including inflammatory arthritis (ICI-IA), but there are limited data regarding safety of ICI rechallenge in this setting. We aimed to assess the rate and clinical features associated with ICI-IA flare/recurrence on ICI rechallenge.

Methods: We conducted a multicentre observational study including cancer patients with ICI-IA who started a second course of ICI more than 3 months after ICI discontinuation in four French university hospitals.

Differential gradients of immunotherapy vs targeted therapy efficacy according to the sun-exposure pattern of the site of occurrence of primary melanoma: a multicenter prospective cohort study (MelBase).

Background: The tumor mutational burden (TMB) is high in melanomas owing to UV-induced oncogenesis. While a high TMB is a predictive biomarker of response to PD-1 inhibitors, it may be associated with the rise of resistant clones to targeted therapy over time. We hypothesized that survivals may depend on both the sun-exposure profile of the site of primary melanoma and the type of systemic treatment.

Adjuvant nivolumab in resected stage IIB/C melanoma: primary results from the randomized, phase 3 CheckMate 76K trial.

Patients with resected stage IIB/C melanoma have high recurrence risk, similar to those with resected stage IIIA/B disease. The phase 3, double-blind CheckMate 76K trial assessed 790 patients with resected stage IIB/C melanoma randomized 2:1 (stratified by tumor category) to nivolumab 480 mg or placebo every 4 weeks for 12 months. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed recurrence-free survival (RFS).

Contribution of MEK Inhibition to BRAF/MEK Inhibitor Combination Treatment of -Mutant Melanoma: Part 2 of the Randomized, Open-Label, Phase III COLUMBUS Trial.

Purpose: In COLUMBUS part 1, patients with advanced -mutant melanoma were randomly assigned 1:1:1 to encorafenib 450 mg once daily plus binimetinib 45 mg twice a day (COMBO450), vemurafenib 960 mg twice a day, or encorafenib 300 mg once daily (ENCO300). As previously reported, COMBO450 improved progression-free survival (PFS) versus vemurafenib (part 1 primary end point) and ENCO300 (part 1 key secondary end point; not statistically significant). Part 2, requested by the US Food and Drug Administration, evaluated the contribution of binimetinib by maintaining the same encorafenib dosage in the combination (encorafenib 300 mg once daily plus binimetinib 45 mg twice daily [COMBO300]) and ENCO300 arms.

Brief Communication: Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Paraneoplastic Syndrome Associated With Merkel Cell Carcinoma Successfully Treated by Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: 2 Cases.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive neuroendocrine cutaneous tumor with high metastatic potential. In rare cases, it can be associated with paraneoplastic syndromes (PNS), which result from an antitumor immunity against antigens produced by the tumor itself. Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS) is a neurological autoimmune PNS characterized by an impairment of the neuromuscular junction, leading to proximal muscle weakness and fatigability.