Melanoma is an aggressive cancer that can spread quickly. Immunotherapy is cancer treatment that enhances your immune system’s ability to destroy melanoma cells and prevent their spread. These therapies are key in treating advanced melanoma to help prevent its spread — and even provide a cure, in some cases.
At Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, our melanoma experts are leading research to expand the uses of immunotherapy. By treating earlier-stage melanoma, combining therapies and using immunotherapy in other new ways, we’re bringing hope to more people with melanoma.
What Is Immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy includes medications that help your immune system destroy cancer cells. Your immune system contains several types of cells that find and destroy harmful substances such as bacteria and viruses. Often, your body’s immune response can also prevent cancer or delay its growth.
Many cancer cells — including melanoma cells — have ways of avoiding the immune system. Immunotherapy helps increase the immune response so that its cells can better recognize and destroy melanoma cells.
Melanoma Immunotherapy: The Penn Medicine Advantage
As part of the Abramson Cancer Center, the Tara Miller Melanoma Center is dedicated to comprehensive care for people with all types of melanoma. Our doctors have years of specialized training in medical oncology (treating cancer with medications), dermatology, surgery and related fields.
We work together to diagnose and treat rare, complex melanomas that would previously have been considered untreatable. In weekly meetings, our medical oncologists, surgeons and other providers discuss options to tailor treatment plans for the best possible care. Meet your melanoma and skin cancer team.
Immunotherapy for Melanoma Skin Cancer
Our melanoma team most often uses immunotherapy to treat people who have late-stage, or advanced, melanoma. Advanced melanoma has metastasized (spread) outside the original site, either to nearby tissues or distant areas.
Immunotherapy is a cornerstone of treatment for advanced melanoma after surgery. It can help prevent cancer from coming back (recurring).
Types of immunotherapy for melanoma skin cancer
We can better tailor your treatment by deciding which immunotherapy works best for you. After surgery to remove melanoma, you continue with immunotherapy to help prevent cancer from returning.
Our cancer specialists use several types of immunotherapy to treat melanoma skin cancer. These medications work in different ways to boost your body’s immune response:
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors: T cells are a key part of your immune system. These medications help T cells produce a stronger immune response to cancer cells. Immune checkpoint inhibitors that treat melanoma include pembrolizumab (Keytruda®), nivolumab (Opdivo®) and ipilimumab (Yervoy®).
- Interleukin-2: Interleukins are natural substances in the body that support the overall immune system. Manufactured interleukin-2 can help shrink advanced melanoma tumors and prevent tumors from spreading.
- Oncolytic virus therapy: Viruses cause infection by invading and destroying healthy cells. This treatment uses lab-modified viruses to target cancer cells. Talimogene laherparepvec (Imlygic®), also called T-VEC, helps treat melanoma tumors that surgery cannot remove.
Immunotherapy trials for stage 2 or stage 3 melanoma
At the Tara Miller Melanoma Center, clinical trials may also offer immunotherapy to treat people with earlier-stage melanomas. These stage 2 or stage 3 melanomas have a high risk of recurrence.
People in the trials receive immunotherapy before receiving other treatment. This use of immunotherapy can start to treat tumors before surgery and shows us how well tumors respond to the treatment. The neoadjuvant (before surgery) stage 2 trial is uniquely offered through the Tara Miller Melanoma Center.
Immunotherapy for Mucosal Melanoma
Research is ongoing to find effective immunotherapies and other treatments for mucosal melanoma. Immunotherapy can help some people with advanced mucosal melanoma, but the treatments don’t work as well as they do for melanoma skin cancer.
We use several of the same immunotherapies as for skin melanoma, including pembrolizumab (Keytruda®), nivolumab (Opdivo®) and ipilimumab (Yervoy®).
Immunotherapy for Eye (Ocular) Melanoma
Research has shown promise in using nivolumab (Opdivo®) and ipilimumab (Yervoy®) in combination to treat some people with ocular melanoma. However, these treatments don’t work as well for ocular melanoma as they do for melanoma skin cancer.
Supplementing Immunotherapy With Other Treatments for Melanoma
We use immunotherapy either before or after other treatments to remove and destroy as much cancer as possible. You receive care from a team with experience in all available treatments for melanoma, including:
Our patient and family support services offer extra support for you and your family during melanoma treatment. You’ll find education classes, mindfulness techniques, support groups and other programs.
Emphasis on Patient Education
If you already have a diagnosis, we help you understand the condition, your treatment options and other details about your care. Find these common questions to ask your doctor about melanoma.
Leading Research and Clinical Trials
Our specialists help develop tomorrow’s standards of care for melanoma through groundbreaking research and clinical trials. If eligible, you may receive promising new treatments before they’re available to the public — many of which are available only at Penn. Learn more about our research and clinical trials at the Tara Miller Melanoma Center.
Request an Appointment to Pursue Immunotherapy
Call 800-789-7366 to schedule an appointment with one of our melanoma experts. You can also request an appointment using our online form.