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Educational Review: Clinical Application of Immune Checkpoint Blockade for the Treatment of Melanoma

  • Melanoma
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Abstract

In the last decade, immunotherapy has become the cornerstone in the management of patients with melanoma, the foremost cause of skin-cancer-related death in the USA. The emergence of immune checkpoint blockade as a crucial element in current immunotherapy and combination strategies has significantly transformed the treatments of resectable and advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma. This paper reviews the landmark clinical trials that formed the basis of management of melanoma in the perioperative and metastatic setting. Furthermore, we discuss the rationale for the applications of PD-1 blockade and its combination with anti-CTLA-4 and anti-LAG-3. The review also explores new experimental combinations of PD-1 blockade with other immunomodulatory agents, including targeted therapies, anti-TIGIT antibodies, TLR-9 agonists, antiangiogenic agents, and mRNA vaccines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, Yale Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    David Su MD & Kelly Olino MD

  2. Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Harriet Kluger MD

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H.K. discloses institutional research grants (to institution) from Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Apexigen, and personal fees (past 3 years) from Iovance, Celldex, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Clinigen, Shionogi, Chemocentryx, Calithera, Signatero, Gigagen, GI reviewers, Seranova, Pliant Therapeutics, and Esai.

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Su, D., Kluger, H. & Olino, K. Educational Review: Clinical Application of Immune Checkpoint Blockade for the Treatment of Melanoma. Ann Surg Oncol 31, 1865–1879 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-023-14587-w

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