Immunotherapy for Malign Melanoma and Other Cutaneous Malignancies

Abstract

The high mutation rate in Malign melanom (MM) also causes the disease to have high immunogenicity. Therefore, immunotherapy is one of the most effective therapeutic options for MM. It is agreed that systemic adjuvant therapy recommendations are supported by improvements in RFS as reported in finished and ongoing prospective randomized trials. In stage 3 melanoma, 5-year OS increased by 11% with adjuvant ipilimumab (vs placebo) and by 4% with adjuvant nivolumab (vs ipilimumab). A 14% difference was observed in 1-year DFS with adjuvant pembrolizumab (vs plasebo). A 23% event-free survival benefit was seen with the use of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab. Grade 3-4 side effects (all causes, some lifelong) were observed in 14-45% of patients in adjuvant immunotherapy studies. Although there are small-volume immunotherapy studies in other less common skin tumors (Squamous cell carcinoma, Basal cell carcinoma, Kaposi sarcoma, Merkel cell carcinoma), in general, all of them were beneficial.