Injectables in Head and Neck Cutaneous Melanoma Treatment

Abstract

Head and neck cutaneous melanomas pose many treatment challenges. Intratumoral injectables offer local and possibly systemic therapy in unresectable lesions. Talimogene laherparepvec, an injectable oncolytic type 1 herpes simplex virus, can improve durable response rates compared with systemic granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor therapy in patients with stage IIIB to IVM1a unresectable melanoma. These benefits were most noticed in lower-stage subsets and treatment naive patients. Efficacy of talimogene laherparepvec was maintained in patients with head and neck melanoma. Talimogene laherparepvec plus systemic immunotherapies is being studied, with promising preliminary data. Numerous ongoing clinical trials are investigating other viral and nonviral injectables.

Keywords: Cutaneous melanoma; Injectable; Oncolytic virus; Otolaryngology; Talimogene laherparepvec.