The advent of new immunotherapy-based treatments for melanoma has been a game-changer for Mark Albertini, MD, associate professor, Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care. 

"I’ve been doing this about a quarter of a century, so unfortunately I’ve lived through the dark ages where we had painfully few treatments for advanced melanoma,” said Dr. Albertini. 

“And then, with the advent of primarily laboratory-based understandings of targeted therapies such as the successful B-raf inhibitors, and perhaps more importantly with identifying ways to unleash immune cell attacks against the cancer, we’re now seeing responses in up to 50 percent of patients.” 

He is collaborating with other UW Carbone Cancer Center researchers on a pilot study to identify biomarkers to help predict patients who will respond to immunotherapy. 

Resources:

• "The Melanoma Age of Enlightenment," UW Health, August 16, 2018