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Is earlier better for melanoma checkpoint blockade?

Abstract

A neoadjuvant approach relying on the administration of combined anti-CTLA-4–anti-PD-1 treatment before lymph node surgery is evaluated in two phase 1 trials. Encouraging clinical, pathological and immunological responses to neoadjuvant therapy were observed, suggesting that this concept warrants further exploration; however, any future approach must address the unacceptably high toxicity of the regimens evaluated in these trials.

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Fig. 1: Rationale for using neoadjuvant versus adjuvant immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma.

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Correspondence to Caroline Robert.

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Robert, C. Is earlier better for melanoma checkpoint blockade?. Nat Med 24, 1645–1648 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-018-0250-0

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