title: Novel Drugs and Combination Therapies for the Treatment of Metastatic Melanoma.
abstract: Metastatic melanoma (MM) still remains as one of the most worrisome cancer known to mankind. In last two decades, treatment of melanoma took a dramatic turn with the discovery of targeted therapy which targets the mutations in mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and immune checkpoint inhibitors. These new findings have led to emergence of many novel drugs that have been approved by FDA. Targeted therapy drugs such as vemurafenib, trametinib and dabrafenib target the MAPK pathway whereas immunotherapies such as ipilimumab, nivolumab and pembrolizumab block immune checkpoint receptors on T lymphocytes. All these drugs have shown to improve the overall survival in MM. Despite these recent discoveries, treatment of MM remains challenging because of rapid development of resistance to targeted therapy. This review will discuss recently approved drugs and their adverse effects and also shed light on combination therapy in treatment of melanoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY 10305, USA.
authors.forename: Adarsh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vennepureddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY 10305, USA.
authors.forename: Nishitha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Thumallapally
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY 10305, USA.
authors.forename: Vijeyaluxmy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Motilal Nehru
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematolgy and Oncology, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY 10305, USA.
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Atallah
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematolgy and Oncology, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY 10305, USA.
authors.forename: Terenig
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Terjanian
keywords: Combination therapy; Immunotherapy; Metastatic melanoma; Targeted therapy