Late-stage melanoma: Experimental drug combo puts 50% of patients into remission

• Researchers tested the efficacy of a drug combination for treating stage IV melanoma.
• They found that 71% of patients responded to the drug combination, and 50% had complete remission.
• The drug combination is now entering a larger trial with a more diverse cohort.

(2023) Melanoma is a kind of skin cancer. While it has a 99% survival rateTrusted Source in its early stages, stage IV melanoma — when cancer has spread to organs such as the lungs — has a survival rate of 30%.

Drugs known as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have improved the outlook for many people with melanoma. ICIs prevent the immune system from switching off before cancer cells are eliminat
ed.

While effective in some people, ICIs are ineffective in others. Researchers suspect that one reason for their varying efficacy lies in myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC)Trusted Source — immature bone marrow cells that suppress the immune response.

Overcoming the suppressive activity of MDSC may improve the efficacy of ICIs in treating melanoma.

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