Metastatic melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer whose incidence has been rising dramatically over the last few decades. Nowadays, the most successful approach in treating advanced melanoma is immunotherapy which encompasses the use of immune checkpoint blockers able to unleash the immune system’s activity against tumor cells. Immunotherapy has dramatically changed clinical practice by contributing to increasing long term overall survival. Despite these striking therapeutic effects, the clinical benefits are strongly mitigated by innate or acquired resistance. In this context, it is of utmost importance to develop methods capable of predicting patient response to immunotherapy. To this purpose, one major step forward may be provided by measuring non-invasive biomarkers in human fluids, namely Liquid Biopsies (LBs). Several LB approaches have been developed over the last few years thanks to technological breakthroughs that have allowed to evaluate circulating components also when they are present in low abundance. The elements of this so-called “circulome” mostly encompass: tumor DNA, tumor and immune cells, soluble factors and non-coding RNAs. Here, we review the current knowledge of these molecules as predictors of response to immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma and predict that LB will soon enter into routine practice in order to guide clinical decisions for cancer immunotherapy.

The promise of liquid biopsy to predict response to immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma / Fattore, L.; Ruggiero, C. F.; Liguoro, D.; Castaldo, V.; Catizone, A.; Ciliberto, G.; Mancini, R.. - In: FRONTIERS IN ONCOLOGY. - ISSN 2234-943X. - 11:(2021), pp. 1-12. [10.3389/fonc.2021.645069]

The promise of liquid biopsy to predict response to immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma

Ruggiero C. F.;Liguoro D.;Castaldo V.;Catizone A.;
2021

Abstract

Metastatic melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer whose incidence has been rising dramatically over the last few decades. Nowadays, the most successful approach in treating advanced melanoma is immunotherapy which encompasses the use of immune checkpoint blockers able to unleash the immune system’s activity against tumor cells. Immunotherapy has dramatically changed clinical practice by contributing to increasing long term overall survival. Despite these striking therapeutic effects, the clinical benefits are strongly mitigated by innate or acquired resistance. In this context, it is of utmost importance to develop methods capable of predicting patient response to immunotherapy. To this purpose, one major step forward may be provided by measuring non-invasive biomarkers in human fluids, namely Liquid Biopsies (LBs). Several LB approaches have been developed over the last few years thanks to technological breakthroughs that have allowed to evaluate circulating components also when they are present in low abundance. The elements of this so-called “circulome” mostly encompass: tumor DNA, tumor and immune cells, soluble factors and non-coding RNAs. Here, we review the current knowledge of these molecules as predictors of response to immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma and predict that LB will soon enter into routine practice in order to guide clinical decisions for cancer immunotherapy.
2021
biomarkers; drug resistance; immunotherapy; liquid biopsy; melanoma
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01g Articolo di rassegna (Review)
The promise of liquid biopsy to predict response to immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma / Fattore, L.; Ruggiero, C. F.; Liguoro, D.; Castaldo, V.; Catizone, A.; Ciliberto, G.; Mancini, R.. - In: FRONTIERS IN ONCOLOGY. - ISSN 2234-943X. - 11:(2021), pp. 1-12. [10.3389/fonc.2021.645069]
File allegati a questo prodotto
File Dimensione Formato  
Fattore_Promise_2021.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Versione editoriale (versione pubblicata con il layout dell'editore)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 704.52 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
704.52 kB Adobe PDF

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1541409
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 4
  • Scopus 18
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 17
social impact