Pembrolizumab for the treatment of advanced melanoma

Pembrolizumab for Treatment of Patients with Advanced or Unresectable Melanoma.

From Coley's toxin to combination immune checkpoint inhibition, strategies to activate the immune system and generate anticancer immunity have been ongoing for well over a century. Over the past decade, the so-called immune checkpoint inhibitors, generally monoclonal antibodies that target key regulators of T-cell activation, emerged as the most effective immune-targeted agents. Pembrolizumab i...

Spotlight on pembrolizumab in the treatment of advanced melanoma

Metastatic melanoma is an aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis. Many approved therapies often do not achieve durable responses in patients. This underscores the need for novel therapeutic strategies. Recruiting a robust immune response is an important antineoplastic treatment strategy. Immune checkpoints offer a molecular target for modulating the immune response and a promising therapeutic ...

Melanoma Brain Metastasis Pseudoprogression after Pembrolizumab Treatment.

The role of immunotherapy in treatment of brain metastases is unknown because most trials exclude patients with active brain lesions. As new immunomodulating agents gain approval for many malignancies, it is important to know if they have unique effects in the central nervous system (CNS). Here, we present a case of a patient with progressing brain metastases treated with a single cycle of pemb...

Pembrolizumab: First in Class for Treatment of Metastatic Melanoma

Author's disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article. M alignant melanoma accounts for only 2% of skin cancers, but it is the most deadly form of skin cancer. Melanoma rates have been increasing over the past 30 years. Melanoma is 10 to 20 times more common in Caucasians than in those of Hispanic or African descent. Metastatic (or stage IV) melanoma has a...

New therapeutical approaches for the treatment of malignant Melanoma