Seven recent developments in melanoma

Study results finding that pretransplant melanoma was associated with increased melanoma and mortality after transplant was among developments recently reported on Healio.com/Dermatology.

Other recent developments included findings that younger women who tanned indoors experienced up to a 6-fold likelihood of developing melanoma, and former NFL player and melanoma patient Troy Aikman joining Novartis’ new melanoma awareness initiative:

Pretransplant melanoma associated with melanoma, mortality after transplant

Researchers found an association between pretransplant melanoma and increased melanoma-specific mortality, overall mortality and incident melanoma after transplant, according to published study results.

Sarah T. Arron

Sarah T. Arron, MD, PhD, of the department of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues used the Transplant Cancer Match (TCM) study to measure outcomes of 185,039 transplant recipients. Read more

Indoor tanning likely factor in melanoma diagnosis among younger women

Younger women who tanned indoors experienced up to a 6-fold likelihood of developing melanoma, which was particularly true for women in their 20s, according to study results published in JAMA Dermatology.

Researchers in Minnesota conducted a population-based case control study of 681 patients (68.3% women) diagnosed with melanoma between 2004 and 2007, and 654 controls patients (68.2% women), aged 25 to 49 years. With Perspective. Read more

Troy Aikman joins advanced melanoma awareness initiative

Troy Aikman, Pro Football Hall of Famer and a former melanoma patient, has joined Novartis’ new initiative to educate patients and caregivers about advanced melanoma, according to a press release.

Troy Aikman

“Throughout my football career, I learned that preparing for and understanding my opponent was the most effective way to beat them, and I see the same situation for people battling advanced melanoma,” Aikman stated in the release. Read more

FDA expands approval of Opdivo plus Yervoy for melanoma

The FDA expanded the approval of nivolumab plus ipilimumab to include all patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma, regardless of BRAF V600 mutational status.

Until now, the combination only had been indicated for patients with BRAF V600 wild-type disease. Read more

Pregnancy-associated malignant melanoma linked to worse prognosis

Women who were diagnosed with metastatic melanoma within 1 year after pregnancy had higher likelihood of recurrence and mortality compared with a control group of nonpregnant women with the disease, according to recently published study results.

Researchers studied 462 women (mean age, 34.7 years) diagnosed with biopsy-proven melanoma between 1988 and 2012. Read more

Anti-PD-1 therapy for melanoma associated with eczema, vitiligo

Anti-programmed cell death-1 therapy for patients with metastatic melanoma was associated with cutaneous adverse events, including lichenoid reactions, eczema and vitiligo, according to recently published study results.

Researchers conducted a prospective and retrospective observational study with unresectable stage IIIC/IV metastatic melanoma treated with Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck) or Opdivo (nivolumab, Bristol-Myers Squibb) between May 1, 2012 and Feb. 1, 2015 at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia. Read more

Philogen announces start of phase 3 melanoma trial

Philogen S.p.A. announced in a press release the launch of a phase 3 trial for patients with stage IIIB/C melanoma, based on results of a phase 2 study using an immunotherapeutic approach.

In the recent phase 2 trial, the Philogen group and collaborating clinical centers demonstrated that the intratumoral injection of a combination of two immunocytokines, L19-IL2 and L19-TNFa, substantially reduced or eradicated injected melanoma lesions, according to the release. The findings included “durable results and excellent cosmetic results." Read more