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Melanoma in 2017

Moving treatments earlier to move further forwards

In 2017, results from phase III trials demonstrated the impressive safety and efficacy of adjuvant targeted and immune therapies in patients with resectable stage III–IV melanoma, and raised questions about the surgical management of patients with microscopic sentinel-lymph-node metastases. For patients with unresectable disease, new overall survival data added to the debate about the relative benefits of single-agent anti-PD-1 versus combined anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 immunotherapy.

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Acknowledgements

M.A.D. acknowledges funding support from the US National Cancer Institute (grants 1R01CA187076-02, 1U54CA224070-01, and 2T32CA009666-21), The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (RP160183), the Melanoma Research Alliance, and the Melanoma Research Foundation. Both M.A.D and K.T.F. acknowledge funding support from the Dr Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation.

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Correspondence to Keith T. Flaherty.

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M.A.D. has served on advisory boards for BMS, Novartis, Roche/Genentech, Sanofi-Aventis, and Vaccinex, and has been the Principal Investigator of studies funded by grants to his institution from AstraZeneca, BMS, Oncothyreon, Roche/Genentech, and Sanofi-Aventis. K.T.F. has served on advisory boards for BMS, Merck, Novartis, and Roche/Genentech, and has received grant support from Novartis.

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Davies, M., Flaherty, K. Moving treatments earlier to move further forwards. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 15, 75–76 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.183

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