Antibiotic use is associated with poor survival outcomes in people receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitors for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer or melanoma, findings indicate.

Wouters Abstract The introduction of effective systemic therapies has significantly changed the treatment of stage III and IV melanoma.

Conclusion In patients with melanoma or NSCLC, the clinical value of checkpoint inhibitors is evident in both RCTs and real-world settings.

Surgical excision is the treatment of choice for early-stage melanoma.

While the mortality rate of cutaneous melanoma has dropped by 7% annually during the last 5 years, the prognosis of vulvar melanoma remains dismal: the 5-year overall survival rate is 47% compared with 92% for cutaneous melanoma.

Nine studies focused on melanoma, seven on non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), one on renal cell cancer, and the remaining six included multiple tumor types.

On the back of success in melanoma with PD-1 and CTLA-4 checkpoint inhibitors, attention has turned to other checkpoint proteins such as indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO). In this editorial, Zeynep Eroglu (Moffitt Cancer Center, USA) discusses the advances and setbacks in the development of IDO inhibitors for melanoma.

Melanoma patients with brain metastases can expect to live longer following the incorporation of checkpoint inhibitors and BRAF -targeted therapies into standard care than their counterparts treated prior to the approval of these agents, suggests an analysis of the US National Cancer Database.

An updated analysis of the CheckMate 067 trial shows continued survival benefits at 4 years with nivolumab plus ipilimumab or nivolumab monotherapy versus ipilimumab alone in patients with previously untreated advanced melanoma.

In patients with high-risk resectable melanoma, neoadjuvant treatment with the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab is associated with high response rates but also considerable toxicity, while single-agent nivolumab has better tolerability but is less efficacious, trial results show.

The average age of cancer diagnosis was 31.5 years and the most common tumor type in the cohort was breast cancer, in 17.2%, followed by lymphoma, thyroid cancer, and melanoma, in a respective 14.8%, 12.6%, and 11.0%.

Find out more about this US FDA decision here

This edition of the medwireNews podcast focuses on a recent trial of the MEK inhibitor selumetinib in metastatic uveal melanoma. Advisory Board member and study author Paul Nathan outlines the findings and discusses the wider implications.

This edition of the medwireNews podcast focuses on a recent trial of the MEK inhibitor selumetinib in metastatic uveal melanoma. Advisory Board member and study author Paul Nathan outlines the findings and discusses the wider implications.

Pregnancy-associated cancers may be linked to an elevated 5-year mortality risk, but the risk varies by tumor site and time of diagnosis, suggests a population-based cohort study.

Using 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose–positron emission tomography to measure treatment response at 1 year in patients with metastatic melanoma may better predict long-term outcomes than standard computed tomography, research shows.

medwireNews : US patients with lymph node-positive melanoma harboring the BRAF V600E or V600K mutations may now be treated with adjuvant dabrafenib and trametinib.