Combining Immunotherapies Shrinks Melanoma Tumors

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center have extended the reach of the immune system in the fight against metastatic melanoma, this time by combining the checkpoint inhibitor tremelimumab with an anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody drug. The first-of-its-kind study found the dual treatments to be safe and elicit a clinical response in patients, according to new results from a phase I trial presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2015.

Researchers include first author David L. Bajor, MD, instructor of medicine in the division of hematology/oncology, and senior author Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, the Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research.

“We’ve had wonderful success with immunotherapies, but we are barely scratching the surface,” Dr Bajor said.

Read the press release from Penn Medicine: http://bit.ly/1GbHx8d