Emerging Indications for Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapies in Cutaneous Malignancies.

Patients with cutaneous malignancies and locoregional involvement represent a high-risk population for disease recurrence, even if they receive optimal surgery and adjuvant treatment. Here, we discuss how neoadjuvant therapy has the potential to offer significant advantages over adjuvant treatment, further improving outcomes in some patients with skin cancers, including melanoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, and cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma. Both preclinical studies and in vivo trials have demonstrated that exposure to immunotherapy prior to surgical resection can trigger a broader and more robust immune response, resulting in increased tumor cell antigen presentation and improved targeting by immune cells, potentially resulting in superior outcomes.

Management of In-Transit Metastases.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this study is to discuss the current knowledge and future perspectives regarding the treatment options for in-transit metastases (ITM), along with the optimal algorithms for patients presenting with this adverse manifestation of melanoma.

Recent Findings: In addition to procedures historically accepted for the management of ITM, encompassing surgery and regional techniques, novel medications in the form of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and targeted therapies now represent standard options, allowing for the possibility of combined approaches, with an expanding role of systemic therapies. Melanoma in-transit metastases consist of intralymphatic neoplastic implants distributed between the primary site and the regional nodal basin, within the subepidermal and dermal lymphatics.

Demographic, Clinical, and Pathologic Features of Patients With Cutaneous Melanoma: Final Analysis of the Brazilian Melanoma Group Database.

Purpose: National epidemiologic data on melanoma are scarce in Brazil. The current work presents final demographic, clinical, and pathologic results from the Brazilian Melanoma Group database to detail how patients with melanoma present at diagnosis.

Methods: The online database includes patients diagnosed between 1982 and 2015 and evaluated at their centers of origin between 2001 and 2016.

Absence of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Is a Reproducible Predictive Factor for Sentinel Lymph Node Metastasis: A Multicenter Database Study by the Brazilian Melanoma Group.

Aims: The aim of this study is to confirm the function of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included 633 patients with invasive melanoma who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy in 7 referral centers certified by the Brazilian Melanoma Group. Independent risk factors of sentinel node metastasis (SNL) were identified by multiple logistic regression.

Isolated limb infusion with hyperthermia and chemotherapy for advanced limb malignancy: factors influencing toxicity.

Background: The isolated limb infusion (ILI) technique is a simpler and less invasive alternative to isolated limb perfusion, which allows regional administration of high-dose chemotherapy to patients with advanced melanoma and other malignancies restricted to a limb.

Methods: Patients from two institutions, treated by ILI between 1998 and 2009 for extensive disease restricted to a limb, were included. The cohort included 31 patients with melanoma who presented with in-transit metastases or an extensive primary lesion, one patient with squamous cell carcinoma and another with epithelioid sarcoma not suitable for local surgical treatment.

Telomerase activity in prognostic histopathologic features of melanoma.

Background: Telomerase activity (TA) is believed to play a role in the regulation of senescence and to limit the number of cell divisions. The deregulation of telomerase appears to contribute to oncogenesis and the formation of immortal cell lines. As a result, it is believed that it could be used as a prognostic marker in melanoma.