Perspectives of immunotherapy in advanced melanoma: Combinations and sequencing

Harnessing the power of the immune system in fighting cancer with immunotherapeutic agents is increasingly recognized as an integral component of cancer care for multiple neoplasm, and first of all for cutaneous melanoma. Immunotherapy can provide cancer patients with durable tumor control and long-term survival; however, maximizing the number of patients who can benefit from this approach undoubtedly requires additional efforts. Along this line, immunotherapy combinations and the association of immunotherapeutic agents with targeted therapy, oncolytic viral therapy, tumor microenvironment modulators, and epigenetic drugs represent areas of active investigation that could eventually lead to enhanced efficacy. Thus, identifying optimal therapeutic combinations and sequences will facilitate the integration of novel and more effective immunotherapy-based combinations into the clinical practice.