Chaotically Precise: Life, Love, and Melanoma: I've said it before, I'll say it again - ENOUGH ALREADY! No more interferon for melanoma!!! (Or placebos

I had to make a hard decision about utilizing interferon (or not!!) back in the dark ages of melanoma - 2010:  Oncology visit limbo.....

Since then, we have learned definitively, that interferon does NOT provide any survival benefit for melanoma patients! There was this in 2016:   Sunbelt Melanoma Trial Final Results: No survival benefit for interferon or complete lymph node dissection in patients with a single positive SLN!

BUT, we were STILL looking at interferon as adjuvant:  ASCO 2016 - Two Adjuvant studies for Stage III/IV - with interferon vs pembro vs ipi - still recruiting

Finally! In February 2017, there was this:  For Stage II/III melanoma patients: Interferon NO BETTER than observation!!!! and in November of that year, in a discussion among Melanoma Big Dogs, this conclusion was drawn: Review of adjuvant treatment in Stage III melanoma and "death knell" for ipi and interferon in that role!!!!

However, Kirkwood (and others) can't seem to get the facts straight in their heads!!! Earlier this year I wrote: Kirkwood needs to STOP!!! NO MORE INTERFERON!!! Geeze!!!!

Now....there's this:

United States Intergroup E1609: A phase III randomized study of adjuvant ipilimumab (3 or 10 mg/kg) versus high-dose interferon-α2b for resected high-risk melanoma. 2019 ASCO. Rarhini, Lee, Hodi, et al. J Clin Oncol 37, 2019.

Background: Phase III adjuvant trials reported significant benefits in relapse-free survival (RFS) for 6 FDA-approved regimens and overall survival (OS) for HDI and ipi10 versus observation or placebo. E1609 evaluated the relative safety and efficacy of ipi at 3 and 10 mg/kg compared to HDI, which was the adjuvant standard until recently. Methods: E1609 had 2 co-primary endpoints: OS and RFS; considered positive if either co-primary endpoint comparison was positive. Activated on 5/25/2011 and completed accrual 8/15/2014. A 2-step hierarchical approach evaluated ipi3 vs HDI followed by ipi10 vs HDI. Patients were stratified by AJCC7 stage (IIIB, IIIC, M1a, M1b). Based on protocol criteria, the primary evaluation was conducted using a data cutoff of 2/15/2019. Results: Final adult patient accrual was 1670; 523 randomized to ipi3, 636 to HDI and 511 to ipi10. Treatment related adverse events (AEs) Grade 3 or higher were experienced by 37% pts with ipi3, 79% with HDI and 58% with ipi10, and those of any grade leading to treatment discontinuation were 35% with ipi3, 20% HDI and 54% ipi10. AEs were mostly immune related and consistent with the known toxicity profiles of these agents. Gr5 AEs considered at least possibly related were 3 with ipi3, 2 with HDI and 8 with ipi10. First step comparison of OS and RFS of ipi3 vs. HDI utilized an ITT analysis of concurrently randomized cases (N = 1051) and showed significant OS difference in favor of ipi3. The prespecified efficacy boundary was crossed. In the 2nd step comparison of ipi10 vs. HDI (N = 989), there were trends towards improvement in OS and RFS in favor of ipi10 that were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Adjuvant therapy with ipi3 benefits survival of resected high-risk melanoma pts; for the first time in the history of melanoma adjuvant therapy, E1609 has demonstrated a significant improvement in the primary endpoint of OS against an active control regimen previously shown to have OS and RFS benefits, supporting early systemic adjuvant therapy for high-risk melanoma.

Not news. Stop with the interferon already!!! Plus, there's this:

Multiple antigen-engineered DC vaccines with or without IFNα to promote antitumor immunity in melanoma. Butterfield, Vujanovic, Santos, et al. J Immunother Cancer. 2019 Apr 24.

Cancer vaccines are designed to promote systemic antitumor immunity and tumor eradication. Cancer vaccination may be more efficacious in combination with additional interventions that may build on or amplify their effects.

Based on our previous clinical and in vitro studies, we designed an antigen-engineered DC vaccine trial to promote a polyclonal CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ T cell response against three shared melanoma antigens. The 35 vaccine recipients were then randomized to receive one month of high-dose IFNα or observation.

The resulting clinical outcomes were 2 partial responses, 8 stable disease and 14 progressive disease among patients with measurable disease using RECIST 1.1, and, of 11 surgically treated patients with no evidence of disease (NED), 4 remain NED at a median follow-up of 3 years. The majority of vaccinated patients showed an increase in vaccine antigen-specific CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ T cell responses. The addition of IFNα did not appear to improve immune or clinical responses in this trial. Examination of the DC vaccine profiles showed that IL-12p70 secretion did not correlate with immune or clinical responses. In depth immune biomarker studies support the importance of circulating Treg and MDSC for development of antigen-specific T cell responses, and of circulating CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ T cell subsets in clinical responses.

DC vaccines are a safe and reliable platform for promoting antitumor immunity. This combination with one month of high dose IFNα did not improve outcomes. Immune biomarker analysis in the blood identified several predictive and prognostic biomarkers for further analysis, including MDSC.

JUST. STOP!

And at this point....placebo? Really???? There's this:

Ipilimumab versus placebo after complete resection of stage III melanoma: Long-term follow-up results the EORTC 18071 double-blind phase 3 randomized trial. 2019 ASCO. Eggermont, Chiarion-Sileni, Grob, et al. J Clin Oncol 37, 2019.

Background: Since 2015, ipilimumab (Ipi) is an approved treatment for stage III melanoma based on a significantly prolonged recurrence-free survival (RFS) (Eggermont et al, Lancet Oncology, 2015). At a median follow-up of 5.3 years, RFS and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), assessed by an IRC, and overall survival (OS) were prolonged in the Ipi group as compared to the placebo (Pbo) group (Eggermont et al, NEJM, 2016), despite a 53.3% (Ipi) vs 4.6% (Pbo) treatment discontinuation rate due to adverse events. Methods: In this randomized double-blind trial, eligible patients (pts) included those greater than/= to 18 yrs of age who underwent complete resection of stage III cutaneous melanoma (excluding lymph node metastasis ≤1 mm or in-transit metastasis). 951 pts were randomized (stratified by stage and region) 1:1 to Ipi 10 mg/kg (n=475) or placebo (Pbo, n=476) q3w for 4 doses, then every 3 mos for up to 3 yrs until completion, disease recurrence, or unacceptable toxicity. Here, we report the comparison between the Ipi and Pbo groups regarding the long-term efficacy outcomes using the local investigator assessments. Results: Overall, 20%/44%/36% of pts had AJCC-7 stage IIIA/IIIB/IIIC, 42% ulcerated primary, and 58% macroscopic lymph node involvement. Median follow-up was 6.9 yrs. The RFS, DMFS and OS benefit observed in the Ipi group was long-lasting (almost 10% difference at 7 years) and consistent across subgroups: no significant predictive factors could be detected. Conclusions: In this phase III trial, Ipi, administered at 10 mg/kg, as adjuvant therapy provided, at a 6.9 yr median follow-up, a sustained improvement in the RFS, DMFS, and OS long-term results in patients with high-risk stage III melanoma. Clinical trial information: NCT00636168

	RFS		DMFS		OS
	Ipi	Pbo	Ipi	Pbo	Ipi	Pbo
No. of events	273	323	247	292	173	223
5-year rate	43.9%	32.5%	49.9%	39.8%	65.2%	54.1%
7-year rate	39.2%	30.9%	44.5%	36.9%	60.0%	51.3%
Median (yrs)	2.7	1.5	5.0	2.4	NR	7.8
HR (95% CI)†	0.75 (0.63-0.88)		0.76 (0.64-0.90)		0.73 (0.60-0.89)
Log-rank p-value†	0.0004		0.0018		0.0021

Of course, Stage III melanoma peeps who were treated with ipi instead of placebo have done better!!! DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We do not need to waste time, money and other resources on melanoma trials that utilize placebo or interferon as the comparator any longer. While these are follow-up reports to pre-existing studies, and the data should be presented, it is unfortunate that some researchers STILL try to harken back to these variables. NO. MORE. We have effective FDA approved treatments in the realm of immunotherapy, targeted therapy and intralesional therapies - across patients using them as adjuvant and to treat active disease. Create studies that make sense. Compare apples to apples. No more placebo or interferon based studies! ENOUGH!

But, through the storm....