Immunotherapy as a Turning Point in the Treatment of Melanoma Brain Metastases.

The incidence of tumor metastases in the brain is many times more frequent than primary brain tumors, affecting a very large share of patients suffering from systemic cancer. Advanced malignant melanoma is well known for its ability to invade the brain space and current treatment options, such as surgery and radiation therapy, are not very efficient and cause notable complications and morbidity. The aim of this review is to explore the recent advances and future potential of using immunotherapy in the treatment of melanoma brain metastases. Several FDA approved immunotherapeutic drugs have shown to be able to at least double the overall survival rates in such patients. Clinical trials of varying phases are underway and available results are promising, significantly prolonging survival rates in patients with previously untreated melanoma brain metastases. Nevertheless, not all patients respond to these immunotherapies, facing a high percentage of resistant cases, without yet knowing the mechanisms and causes of resistance behind. Also, at the time of immunotherapy, a small percentage of patients is affected by pseudoprogression, which can be difficult to distinguish from true progression given the similarity of symptoms. Therefore, there is a pressing need for future research about treatment effectiveness in patients with brain metastases from melanoma, including outcomes from the perspective of patients.

Immunomodulatory Drugs in Melanoma Brain Metastases.

Brain metastases are about ten times more frequent than a brain primary tumor, being present in 20-40% of adults with systemic cancer. Together with lung cancer and breast cancer, skin cancers such as melanoma are top primary tumors which metastasizes to the brain. Advanced melanoma is well known for its propensity to metastasize to the brain, with 80% of patients presenting brain metastasis at the autopsy. However, current therapies are not very efficient and brain metastases are in most of the cases lethal. Treatment of melanoma brain metastases with surgery and/or radiation therapy results in a median overall survival of only about four months after diagnosis. New immunotherapies such as targeted or immunomodulatory drugs, many in clinical trials, have shown promise, with some immunomodulatory drugs being able to at least double the overall survival rates for patients with melanoma brain metastases. This review focuses on the recent advances and future potential of using immunotherapy, such as the newly developed immunomodulatory drugs, for melanoma brain metastases therapy. Immunomodulatory drugs bring a great promise as new tools for melanoma treatment in particular and for the treatment of other types of malignancies in general.