Future perspectives in melanoma research. Meeting report from the "Melanoma Bridge. Napoli, December 2nd-4th 2012".

Paolo A Ascierto ,Lorenzo Borgognoni,Soldano Ferrone,Antoni Ribas,Luana Calabrò,Ena Wang,Kim Margolin,Michele Del Vecchio,Nicola Mozzillo,Peter Suenaert,James Larkin,Alberto Mantovani,Giorgio Trinchieri,Gennaro Ciliberto,Magdalena Thurin,Igor Puzanov,Sacha Gnjatic,Alessandra Cesano,Nicolas Acquavella,Jeff Sosman,Helen Gogas,Jérôme Galon,Giuseppe Palmieri,Natale Cascinelli,Barbara Seliger,Alexander M.m Eggermont ,Cornelis J.m Melief ,Bernard A Fox ,Howard L Kaufman ,Francesco M Marincola ,Thomas F Gajewski ,Mohammed Kashani‐Sabet ,Ahmad A Tarhini ,Grant A Mcarthur ,Fernando Vidal‐Vanaclocha ,Antonio Grimaldi ,Roger S Lo ,Mark B Faries

doi:10.1186/1479-5876-11-137

Abstract

Recent insights into the genetic and somatic aberrations have initiated a new era of rapidly evolving targeted and immune-based treatments for melanoma. After decades of unsuccessful attempts to finding a more effective cure in the treatment of melanoma now we have several drugs active in melanoma. The possibility to use these drugs in combination to improve responses to overcome the resistance, to potentiate the action of immune system with the new immunomodulating antibodies, and identification of biomarkers that can predict the response to a particular therapy represent new concepts and approaches in the clinical management of melanoma. The third “Melanoma Research: “A bridge from Naples to the World” meeting, shortened as “Bridge Melanoma Meeting” took place in Naples, December 2 to 4th, 2012. The four topics of discussion at this meeting were: advances in molecular profiling and novel biomarkers, combination therapies, novel concepts toward integrating biomarkers and therapies into contemporary clinical management of patients with melanoma across the entire spectrum of disease stage, and the knowledge gained from the biology of tumor microenvironment across different tumors as a bridge to impact on prognosis and response to therapy in melanoma. This international congress gathered more than 30 international faculty members who in an interactive atmosphere which stimulated discussion and exchange of their experience regarding the most recent advances in research and clinical management of melanoma patients.

Highlights

The 3rd “Melanoma Research Bridge” meeting was held in Naples on December 2 to 4th, 2012 (Figure 1)
Combination regimens based on mechanisms of resistance and/or activation of oncogenic pathways that involve other therapeutic targeting agents for melanoma (MEK, PI3K, AKT, CDK4/6, Hsp90 etc.), are expected to have additive or synergistic effects on clinical outcome when added to BRAF inhibitors
We identified the immunoglobulin-like transcript 2 (ILT2) gene that was significantly down-regulated in T cells exposed to the recombinant Vaccinia vectors using a gene microarray strategy

Summary

Introduction

The 3rd “Melanoma Research Bridge” meeting was held in Naples on December 2 to 4th, 2012 (Figure 1). Canonical pathway analysis of relevant genes identified immune related signature including genes for antigen presentation, protein ubiquitination and Interferon (IFN) signalling suggesting that the presence of immune effector cells in the tumor microenvironment predicts clinical benefit in response to treatment with MAGE-A3 vaccine [8].

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Results

Conclusion