Revolutionizing treatment of advanced melanoma with immunotherapy.

Overview

Until immunotherapy was developed, a diagnosis of metastatic melanoma was most often fatal. Programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) antibodies have been shown to work synergistically to treat metastatic disease throughout the body and brain. Today, over half of patients diagnosed with stage IV disease are alive after 3 years. In the adjuvant setting, 70% patients remain disease free with PD-1 blockade after 1 year. These treatments are generally safe and well tolerated. However, treatment-related endocrinopathies require long-term medications. With better therapies producing more durable responses, advanced cutaneous melanoma is dramatically more manageable now than ever before.