Dacarbazine as third-line treatment for malignant melanoma : Retrospective study of three cases
2019 Volume 33 Issue 3 Pages 196-200
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2019 Volume 33 Issue 3 Pages 196-200
The immune checkpoint inhibitors anti-PD-1/PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies are often selected to treat unresectable BRAF mutation-negative melanomas. However, the response rates of these frequently used drugs are only 30% and 10%, respectively, and in some cases, treatment cannot be continued owing to adverse effects including overactivation of autoimmune response mechanisms. We used dacarbazine as the third-line treatment in 3 melanoma cases and observed the following clinical effects : partial response in 1, stable disease in 1, and progression of disease in 1 patient. In these 3 cases, the treatment effects of dacarbazine correlated with changes in serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and 5-S-cysteinyldopa (5-SCD) levels. Going forward, accumulating more data on cases, reporting the response rate of dacarbazine, and investigating whether serum LDH and 5-SCD are useful as markers to evaluate the treatment effects will provide useful information for selecting the appropriate melanoma treatment.[Skin Cancer (Japan) 2018 ; 33 : 196-200]
