Adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy improves melanoma-specific survival in stage IIIC-IV melanoma patients with high tumor mutation burden and BRAF V600 mutation

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have significantly improved melanoma-specific survival (MSS), particularly in patients with tumors with a high tumor mutational burden (TMB) or <i>BRAF</i> mutation. In the adjuvant setting, ICIs significantly improve relapse-free survival (RFS), but data on MSS are still lacking. Tissue samples from 83 patients with stage IIIC/D/IV melanoma who started adjuvant ICI between March 2018 and September 2019 were examined using a 700 gene panel. TMB and <i>BRAF V600E/K</i> mutation status were analyzed to determine their potential influence on RFS and MSS. TMB levels ≥ 20 Var/Mb were classified as TMB high, corresponding to the top 20% TMB levels in the cohort. RFS and MSS were significantly improved in patients whose tumors had high TMB levels and <i>BRAF V600E/K</i> mutation (p<0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). Patients with <i>BRAF</i>-mutated tumors and high TMB seem to benefit particularly from adjuvant ICI.

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Publication Details

Journal
Frontiers in Oncology
Published
2025-08-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2025.1618596
Primary Topic
Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy improves melanoma-specific survival in stage IIIC-IV melanoma patients with high tumor mutation burden and BRAF V600 mutation

Claus Garbe, Julia Huynh, Irina Bonzheim, Andrea Forschner et al.
1 links
Frontiers in Oncology
Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
article

Adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy improves melanoma-specific survival in stage IIIC-IV melanoma patients with high tumor mutation burden and BRAF V600 mutation

Claus Garbe, Julia Huynh, Irina Bonzheim, Andrea Forschner, Sorin Armeanu–Ebinger, Axel Gschwind, Teresa Amaral, Thomas Eigentler, Christopher Schroeder, Markus Reitmajer, Olga Seibel-Kelemen, Lukas Flatz, Stephan Ossowski, Julia Forschner
article en

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have significantly improved melanoma-specific survival (MSS), particularly in patients with tumors with a high tumor mutational burden (TMB) or <i>BRAF</i> mutation. In the adjuvant setting, ICIs significantly improve relapse-free survival (RFS), but data on MSS are still lacking. Tissue samples from 83 patients with stage IIIC/D/IV melanoma who started adjuvant ICI between March 2018 and September 2019 were examined using a 700 gene panel. TMB and <i>BRAF V600E/K</i> mutation status were analyzed to determine their potential influence on RFS and MSS. TMB levels ≥ 20 Var/Mb were classified as TMB high, corresponding to the top 20% TMB levels in the cohort. RFS and MSS were significantly improved in patients whose tumors had high TMB levels and <i>BRAF V600E/K</i> mutation (p<0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). Patients with <i>BRAF</i>-mutated tumors and high TMB seem to benefit particularly from adjuvant ICI.

Frontiers in OncologyVol. 15
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), University Children's Hospital Tübingen (DE), University of Tübingen (DE)
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Medizinischen Fakultät, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 70%
Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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