Personalization of Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy in High-Risk Resectable Melanoma and Utility of ctDNA as a Biomarker of Immunotherapy Response
Blood-based tumor DNA helps guide surgical decisions in melanoma, offering a non-invasive way to personalize care beyond standard approaches.
In 76 melanoma patients treated with neoadjuvant ICI (55% ipi/nivo), ctDNA (Signatera) correlated with major pathologic response at surgery and comparable recurrence rates were observed between index node excision and total lymph node dissection cohorts. These real-world data support ctDNA as a complementary biomarker to guide personalized surgical decision-making in resectable melanoma.
What the study was
- Study design
- Retrospective cohort study
- Population
- Resectable macroscopic melanoma patients treated with neoadjuvant ICI (n=76; ctDNA Signatera subset n=22); MGH/Mass General Brigham 2020-2024
- Sample size
- 76
- Category
- Diagnostics
- Maturity
- Exploratory
- Journal
- Annals of Surgical Oncology
Why it surfaced
Small retrospective (n=76, ctDNA subset n=22) but from MGH, Ann Surg Oncol. ctDNA biomarker utility for melanoma surgical decision-making is clinically relevant. Evidence maturity is Exploratory due to retrospective design and small ctDNA subset. Scored 6.
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