title: Melanoma: From Incurable Beast to a Curable Bet. The Success of Immunotherapy.
abstract: After Coley's observation in 1891 of tumor regression in a patient who developed a postoperative infection, the field of immunotherapy is finally reborn. Avoiding immune destruction is now considered a hallmark of cancer, and the immunotherapy arena has exploded with the recent advances demonstrating an improvement in survival and a durability of response in patients with different cancer types, which translates into improved overall survival benefit. Here, we provide an overview of the main immune-oncology treatment strategies that, either alone or in combination, are undergoing clinical development. Namely, we will refer to those immunotherapeutic strategies that include adoptive transfer of ex vivo activated T cells, immunomodulatory monoclonal antibodies, and cancer vaccines. Our major focus will be to describe these approaches in melanoma, a cancer type transformed by immunotherapy into a potentially curable disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD , USA.
authors.forename: Maria Libera
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ascierto
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Clinica Universidad de Navarra , Pamplona , Spain.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Melero
authors.affiliation: Unit of Melanoma, Cancer Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapy, Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione "G. Pascale" , Napoli , Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo Antonio
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ascierto
keywords: adoptive T cell therapy; combination therapy; immunomodulatory antibodies; immunotherapy; melanoma; vaccination