Abstract
Novel cancer treatment involving blockade of checkpoint inhibitors have shown significant progress toward understanding the molecular mechanisms of tumour immune evasion. The preclinical an clinical findings associated with PD-1 receptor blockade show promising results in the treatment of melanoma and other solid tumours.
The anti PD-1 monoclonal antibodies nivolumab and pembrolizumab were approved by FDA (Food and Drug Administration)and EMA (European Medicines Agency) for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Nivolumab monotherapy has higher response rate than chemotherapy or ipilimumab monotherapy and prolongs progression free survival and overal survival compared to dacarbazine in the first and second line treatment.
Inhibition of PD-1 is less toxic than CTLA-4 blockade. Combination of PD-1 and CTLA-4 inhibition improves response rate and progression free survival in patiens with metastatic melanoma and results evaluating the overal survival are awating.