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Updated: Jun 10, 2025
A Melanoma Patient-Derived Xenograft Model
Published on: May 20, 2019
Survival of Patients with Metastatic Melanoma Treated with Ipilimumab after PD-1 Inhibitors: A Single-Center
Sofia Verkhovskaia1, Rosa Falcone1, Francesca Romana Di Pietro1
1Department of Oncology, Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata IDI-IRCCS, 00167 Rome, Italy.
Background:
When monotherapy with PD-1 inhibitors in metastatic melanoma fails, there are currently no standard second-line choices. In case of the unavailability of clinical trials, ipilimumab represents a possible alternative treatment.
Methods:
We collected data of 44 patients who received ipilimumab after the failure of PD-1 inhibitors from July 2017 to May 2023 at our Institute. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and post-progression survival (PPS) based on BRAF or NRAS mutation status, sex, and the presence of brain metastases were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression was used to evaluate independence in multivariate analysis. The objective response rate (ORR) was estimated based on RECIST 1.1.
Results:
Among the 44 patients enrolled in this study, 28 BRAF-wildtype, 9 BRAF-mutated, and 7 NRAS-mutated patients were identified. OS analysis showed a significant difference between wildtype and BRAF- or NRAS-mutated patients: 23.2 months vs 5.3 and 4.59, respectively, p = 0.017. The presence of brain metastases and BRAF or NRAS mutation were independent factors for mortality in multivariate analysis.
Conclusions:
In case of failure to enroll patients in innovative clinical trials, second-line ipilimumab still represents an effective therapy in patients with metastatic wildtype melanoma and in the absence of brain metastases.
