‘Dreaming’ about new melanoma treatment

This year, 98,000 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma and 7,000 will die from it. New therapies such as immunotherapy and targeted therapies are improving a patient’s chances of survival. Now, in a brand new study, researchers say the order in which doctors deliver these advanced treatments matters.

For years, people have spent hours in the sun trying to achieve a healthy glow. We now know that UV exposure can be a risk factor for cancer.

“Until recently, metastatic melanoma was a deadly disease. If you had it, you usually died from it within a few years,” said Dr. Andrew Pecora, an oncologist at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Doctors can now treat metastatic melanoma in two ways: with immunotherapy—using the person’s immune system to fight cancer—or, for patients with a specific genetic mutation called a BRAF mutation, with targeted therapy. Both that, and another doctors prescribed to patients with a genetic mutation. The DREAMSeq study showed that the order or sequence of treatments matters.

“Patients who received immunotherapy first had significantly better survival than patients who received targeted therapy first,” Pecora said.

Pecora also says that the sequence of treatments – immunotherapy first – should become the standard of care, leading to more people living for five years or more. If immunotherapy doesn’t work, doctors should try targeted therapy.

About 50 percent of patients with metastatic melanoma have the BRAF gene, Pecora says, so this discovery will be of great importance to many patients.

The authors of this news are: Cindy McGrath, producer; Kirk Manson, videographer; Rock Correa, publisher.

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