Outcome of melanoma patients with elevated LDH treated with first-line targeted therapy or PD-1-based immune checkpoint inhibition.

Abstract Background Elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is a known predictive and prognostic factor for a poor outcome in patients with metastatic melanoma. It is unclear whether first-line targeted therapy (TT) or immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) is more beneficial in melanoma patients with elevated LDH because prospective studies in this area are lacking. Methods This multicentre retrospective cohort study was conducted at 25 melanoma centres worldwide to analyse progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) among melanoma patients with elevated LDH. The role of confounders was addressed by using inverse probability of treatment weighting. Results Among 173 BRAFV600-mutant …

The GERMELATOX DeCOG-trial : German melanoma patients and their attitude toward toxicity during adjuvant interferon treatment

TPS9113^ Background: Although trials of adjuvant interferon alfa-2b (IFN alpha-2b) in high-risk melanoma patients suggest improvement in disease-free survival (DFS), a metaanalysis could only show ...

Gebrauch von Komplementärmedizin bei Patienten mit metastasierendem Melanom unter Therapie mit Ipilimumab innerhalb einer klinischen Studie

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund und Ziel In Deutschland wenden 40–90 % aller Krebspatienten Methoden der komplementaren and alternativen Medizin (KAM) an. Bis dato gibt es kein Datenmaterial zum Einsatz der KAM bei Melanompatienten. Das Ziel unserer Studie war es, Daten uber den Gebrauch, die Informationsquellen und Ziele von Patienten mit metastasierendem Melanom zu erfassen. Patienten und Methoden Einhundertsechsundfunfzig Patienten aus 25 Studienzentren nahmen an der DecOG-MM-PAL Multibasket Studie teil. Die beteiligten Personen wurden auch gebeten, an einer Nebenstudie teilzunehmen, die ihren Gebrauch von KAM erfassen sollte. Dazu wurde wahrend der Behandlung ein standardisierter Fragebogen…

Clinical performance of the Nevisense system in cutaneous melanoma detection: an international, multicentre, prospective and blinded clinical trial on efficacy and safety.

Summary Background Even though progress has been made, the detection of melanoma still poses a challenge. In light of this situation, the Nevisense electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) system (SciBase AB, Stockholm, Sweden) was designed and shown to have the potential to be used as an adjunct diagnostic tool for melanoma detection. Objectives To assess the effectiveness and safety of the Nevisense system in the distinction of benign lesions of the skin from melanoma with electrical impedance spectroscopy. Methods This multicentre, prospective, and blinded clinical study was conducted at five American and 17 European investigational sites. All eligible skin lesions in the study were exami…

S3-Leitlinie "Diagnostik, Therapie und Nachsorge des Melanoms" - Kurzfassung

Impact of a preceding radiotherapy on the outcome of immune checkpoint inhibition in metastatic melanoma: a multicenter retrospective cohort study of the DeCOG

BackgroundImmune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) is an essential treatment option in melanoma. Its outcome may be improved by a preceding radiation of metastases. This study aimed to investigate the impact of a preceding radiotherapy on the clinical outcome of ICI treatment.MethodsThis multicenter retrospective cohort study included patients who received anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) or anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) ICI with or without preceding radiotherapy for unresectable metastatic melanoma. ICI therapy outcome was measured as best overall response (BOR), progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Response and survival analyses were adjusted …

Immune checkpoint inhibition therapy for advanced skin cancer in patients with concomitant hematological malignancy: a retrospective multicenter DeCOG study of 84 patients

BackgroundSkin cancers are known for their strong immunogenicity, which may contribute to a high treatment efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI). However, a considerable proportion of patients with skin cancer is immuno-compromised by concomitant diseases. Due to their previous exclusion from clinical trials, the ICI treatment efficacy is poorly investigated in these patients. The present study analyzed the ICI treatment outcome in advanced patients with skin cancer with a concomitant hematological malignancy.MethodsThis retrospective multicenter study included patients who were treated with ICI for locally advanced or metastatic melanoma (MM), cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cS…

Discontinuation of braf/mek-directed targeted therapy after complete remission of metastatic melanoma : a retrospective multicenter adoreg study

The advent of BRAF/MEK inhibitors (BRAFi/MEKi) has significantly improved progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for patients with advanced BRAF-V600-mutant melanoma. Long-term survivors have been identified particularly among patients with a complete response (CR) to BRAF/MEK-directed targeted therapy (TT). However, it remains unclear which patients who achieved a CR maintain a durable response and whether treatment cessation might be a safe option in these patients. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of treatment cessation on the clinical course of patients with a CR upon BRAF/MEK-directed-TT. We retrospectively selected patients with BRAF-V600-mutant advanced non-res…

Malignant Melanoma S3-Guideline “Diagnosis, Therapy and Follow-up of Melanoma”

This first German evidence-based guideline for cutaneous melanoma was developed under the auspices of the German Dermatological Society (DDG) and the Dermatologic Cooperative Oncology Group (DeCOG) and funded by the German Guideline Program in Oncology. The recommendations are based on a systematic literature search, and on the consensus of 32 medical societies, working groups and patient representatives. This guideline contains recommendations concerning diagnosis, therapy and follow-up of melanoma. The diagnosis of primary melanoma based on clinical features and dermoscopic criteria. It is confirmed by histopathologic examination after complete excision with a small margin. For the stagin…

Outcome of patients with elevated LDH treated with first-line targeted therapy (TT) or PD-1 based immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI)

Abstract Background Elevated LDH is a known predictive and prognostic factor correlating with poor response rates and survival in patients (pts) with metastatic melanoma (MM) treated with targeted therapy (BRAF plus MEK inhibitors, TT) or immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Whether TT or ICI in this subgroup of pts is more beneficial is unknown. Methods Pts with MM and elevated LDH who started first-line therapy between March 2016 and June 2017 were retrospectively identified from 25 melanoma centers. The cohort was divided into 2 groups: pts receiving TT first-line (TT group) and ICI first-line (ICI group). Primary endpoints were overall response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS)…

Immune checkpoint inhibitors: a milestone in the treatment of melanoma

Summary It has been known for decades that the immune system is able to detect and destroy tumor cells. In the past, this knowledge – mostly acquired through animal experiments – could not be used to benefit our patients, because immuno-oncological therapeutic approaches in humans had constantly failed over recent decades. With the exception of adjuvant interferon therapy, none of these approaches had found its way into everyday clinical practice, and only very few patients were able to enjoy long-term survival associated with good quality of life. With the advent of novel immunological approaches, the meaning of long-term survival as well as quality of life has been redefined for oncologic…

1122P Real-world analysis of dabrafenib plus trametinib in patients with BRAFV600-mutated melanoma brain metastases

Intermittent intensified high-dose intravenous interferon alpha 2b (IFNa2b) for adjuvant treatment of stage III malignant melanoma: Pooled analysis of two randomized phase III trials (NCT00226408 and ISRCTN75125874) with 980 patients.

e20028 Background: Adjuvant high-dose interferon (HDI) treatment of patients (pts) with malignant melanoma (MM) consists of 4 weeks intravenous (IV) induction with 20 MU/m² interferon (IFN) alpha 2b followed by 11 months of 10 Mio IU/m² IFN subcutaneously (sc). It is unclear whether both parts of the regimen are mandatory for the efficacy of HDI treatment. The adjuvant phase III trials DeCOG MM-ADJ-5 and the Italian Melanoma Intergroup (IMI) trial evaluated intermittent IV HDI (iHDI) regimens as compared to standard HDI. In both trials, the experimental arm consisted of iHDI for 3 or 4 cycles, respectively. To gain more insight into the role of iHDI in the adjuvant setting we performed a p…

Electrical impedance spectroscopy as a potential adjunct diagnostic tool for cutaneous melanoma.

Background Previous studies have shown statistically significant differences in electrical impedance between various cutaneous lesions. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) may therefore be able to aid clinicians in differentiating between benign and malignant skin lesions. Objectives The aim of the study was to develop a classification algorithm to distinguish between melanoma and benign lesions of the skin with a sensitivity of at least 98% and a specificity approximately 20 per cent higher than the diagnostic accuracy of dermatologists. Patients/Methods A total of 1300 lesions were collected in a multicentre, prospective, non-randomized clinical trial from 19 centres around Europe. Al…