This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Intracranial, extracranial metastases in BRAF-mutant melanoma respond similarly to dabrafenib
Dabrafenib induced comparable responses in intracranial and extracranial metastases in patients with BRAF-mutant melanoma, according to study results.
Researchers evaluated data from 23 patients (mean age, 58 years; 65% men). Each patient had a median of four (range, 1-50) intracranial metastases and 10 (range, 0-50) extracranial metastases.
Patients received 150 mg dabrafenib (Tafinlar; GlaxoSmithKline) twice daily.
Twenty patients (87%) in the cohort responded to treatment with dabrafenib. Median time to best response was 7.7 weeks.
Median PFS was 16.3 weeks and median OS was 36.6 weeks.
Overall, researchers reported no significant differences in intracranial and extracranial response rates (78% vs. 90%; P=.416).
Researchers observed slightly shorter median time to response in intracranial metastases than extracranial metastases (7.4 vs. 12.4 weeks; P=.107).
Intracranial and extracranial response was concordant in 15 of 21 patients (71%) with measurable intracranial or extracranial disease at baseline.
Site-specific median PFS was 23.6 weeks for both intracranial and extracranial sites (P=.465).
Twenty patients experienced disease progression. Of them, six experienced intracranial disease progression only and six experienced extracranial disease progression only. Eight patients experienced both.
Of the six with intracranial disease progression, five underwent local therapy and continued treatment with dabrafenib for longer than 30 days.
“The management approach to patients with melanoma brain metastases is complicated and changing rapidly,” the researchers wrote. “Results of this study suggest that brain metastases respond and progress similarly to extracranial metastases in patients treated with dabrafenib, and this should assist with choices regarding the nature and timing of local and systemic treatments.”
Disclosure: Researchers report travel support, honoraria and institutional compensation from, as well as advisory board roles with, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Roche.