Eur J Cancer: The efficacy of BRAF and MEK inhibitors in a combined treatment for patients with advanced melanoma in Asia

The treatment of advanced melanoma has changed dramatically with the introduction of immuno-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and BRAF and MEK inhibitors in combination therapy (B-Minh).
currently, most clinical trials evaluating the B-Minh program are conducted in Western countries, so we still know very little about the efficacy of B-Minh in the East Asian population.
Yasuhiro et al. retrospectively collected data on patients with advanced melanoma treated in 16 Japanese research institutes using the B-Minh programme (Dalabini-Qumetini or Erafini-Qumeitini).
analysis of response rates, adverse events, failure patterns, and survival.
total prognosis (PFS and OS) collected 144 medical records, and the final analysis included 112, 14 of which were limb end/mucosal melanoma.
the mitigation rate for the entire queue is 75.0%. there was no statistical difference in the remission rates of
limb end/mucosal melanoma and skin melanoma: 64.3% and 76.5%, respectively;
24 months of prognossis analysis in different sub-groups, patients with complete remission had the highest overall survival rate, as high as 94.7%.
the elevation of serum lactic acid dehydrogenase levels and the ≥ 3 were independently associated with survival prognosis.
most common relapses are the brain (17.9%).
more than half (58.8%) of patients had Level III/IV fever.
, the B-Minh program is effective for patients with melanoma in Japan, including those with limb end/mucosal melanoma.
factors associated with survival are similar to previous Western studies.
patients' responses to B-Minh are not affected by the history of ICI use; however, given that brain metastasis is the most common relapse site, it is necessary to be alert to brain metastasis during the treatment of B-Minh.