Immunochemotherapy - A Missed Opportunity for Metastasized Malignant Melanoma? Reporting a Therapeutic Success with Checkpoint Inhibitor Rechallenge after Cytotoxic Immuno-Priming in a Heavily Pretreated Patient

Abstract

Treatment of metastasized malignant melanoma still has very limited therapeutic options. After exhaustion of immuno-checkpoint inhibition (ICI) and potentially targeted therapy, no promising alternatives are currently available. We report on an 83-year-old patient suffering from disseminated metastatic melanoma who showed an almost complete response to ICI following chemotherapy, after repeated failure of different regimens including two nonresponsive regimens of ICI. The presented outcome suggests a cytotoxic immuno-priming, facilitating a response to prior nonresponsive ICI. As this concept has not been established until now for malignant melanoma, in contrast to multiple other cancer entities, our case report corroborates previous evidence and therefore suggests a new treatment option, which should be researched further.

Keywords: Double checkpoint inhibition; Immunochemotherapy; Immunogenetic cell death; Melanoma.