Target therapy with BRAF and MEK inhibitors is one of the main pillars of treating patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma. Despite a good therapeutic response, this treatment is burdened by early development resistance.
A particular possibility to overcome this resistance is the combination of target therapy and immunotherapy. BRAF-mutated melanomas themselves have immunosuppressive properties that stimulate the tumour microenvironment.
Target therapy with BRAF and MEK inhibitors significantly affects the immune tumour microenvironment, which could support the use of combination therapy with checkpoint inhibitors. However, these findings have not yet been supported in clinical studies.
The work provides insight into the current knowledge of the influence of the immune system by target therapy.