MIA takes centre stage at leading cancer conference

5 June 2019

Researchers from Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) took centre stage at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, attended by over 40,000 professionals. Results presented by MIA’s contingent have the potential to create better patient outcomes and change the way advanced melanoma is treated.

Four independent presentations on melanoma were given by MIA researchers at the world’s leading oncology conference, and a highly prestigious Clinical Sciences Symposium was presented in the Next Generation Therapeutics and Biomarkers session by postdoctoral researcher Dr Inês Da Silva.

“Four presentations from one institution, including a Clinical Science Symposium, is unprecedented. These presentations will change the way we treat melanoma patients, as well as their quality of life,” said MIA’s Co-Medical Director, Professor Georgina Long.

Dr Da Silva’s research is paving the way for personalised therapies, as she unveiled a detailed analysis of melanoma biomarkers to predict treatment response. Currently, biomarkers for response to immunotherapy have been studied in isolation. Dr Da Silva looked at a range of characteristics of patients and their melanoma and how these interact to create a multivariate predictive model. Her research found that high levels of two molecular factors – tumour mutational burden and interferon gamma – are predictive of good response to immunotherapy and longer progression-free survival in patients with metastatic cutaneous melanoma. Importantly, Dr Da Silva focused on patients who are ‘outliers’ – those who do not have these features who responded to therapy, or those who have these features who did not respond. Looking closely at what makes these patients different could prove crucial in our understanding of resistance and help us find treatments that will work for patients who currently don’t respond.

“These outliers are so important to our research. These are the patients who can teach us about resistance or conversion to therapy, which is our next big research focus,” said Professor Richard Scolyer, Co-Medical Director of MIA.

Another MIA presentation outlined what researchers hope will be the new benchmark for drug testing and regulatory approval. MIA’s Associate Professor Alex Menzies presented analyses of data from six neoadjuvant clinical trials on behalf of the International Neoadjuvant Melanoma Consortium (INMC). Neoadjuvant immunotherapy, where a drug is given prior to surgery then continued afterwards, shows early promise as the new standard of treatment with evidence suggesting it may be more effective in melanoma patients. The data suggests it could act as a possible early marker of long-term survival. This is determined by the patient’s pathological response rate, which is identified through a biopsy. To date, no patient in any of the trials with a complete pathological response has shown disease progression at all throughout two years of follow-up. Due to this success, the INMC is developing a ‘Master Protocol’ for neoadjuvant clinical trials to standardise trial design, pathological assessment, and translational research. This will allow new drugs to be compared with current standard-of-care in a quick and efficient way, leading to the possibility of quicker approvals for drugs that show therapeutic benefit.

MIA medical oncology fellow Dr Carina Owen presented the analysis from her study looking at international data of patients who recur on adjuvant immunotherapy (immunotherapy given after surgical intervention). Her analysis reveals that patients who recur after stopping treatment early or completing their therapy may respond to further immunotherapy. This is termed salvage therapy and has the potential to open further lines of treatment and longer survival for these patients. Most patients who recur, however, will recur early while on treatment. These patients are resistant to therapy, and none of the patients analysed in this study responded to subsequent therapy. This underscores the need for more research and further clinical trials to cater to these resistant patients – the next phase of MIA’s research focus.

Professor Angela Hong also presented the results from MIA’s whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) trial. The international Phase III trial found that WBRT does not prolong overall survival compared to observation. As WBRT can be morbid, using this information as the foundation for treatment changes will improve the quality of life for patients whose melanoma has spread to the brain.

In the melanoma and skin cancer poster session, MIA was again well-represented with six posters on display. Professor Long presented two posters summarising new and further results from clinical trials. The newest cohort of patients on the Keynote-029 study have been analysed, and it was found that the combination of pembrolizumab and ipilimumab given in a new dosing schedule is effective and safe, with more follow-up to come. The continuing Combi-I trial has been analysed for updated safety and efficacy, showing promising durability of response with manageable toxicities.

A poster by Dr Inês Da Silva described a model to predict response to immunotherapy. Importantly, the best predictors of response are routinely collected clinical factors, easily accessible through a blood test, making this a practical and inexpensive tool to help guide clinicians in making treatment choices for their patients. PhD student Dr Jenny Lee presented a poster on the use of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) as a biomarker for the presence and monitoring of melanoma brain metastases. While she found that ctDNA was not a useful biomarker for the status of brain metastases, it is till a useful tool for determining extracranial response.

Associate Professor Matt Carlino presented the outline of a new clinical trial, where giving patients with resected Stage II melanoma adjuvant pembrolizumab will be compared with the current standard of care, observation. Finally, clinical trials manager Maria Gonzalez presented a poster summarising MIA’s new ABC-X clinical trial, aided by funding from Jay’s Longest Melanoma March. This trial will combine radiotherapy with immunotherapy in patients with brain metastases to determine if this will increase the effectiveness of the treatment.

“We’re exceptionally proud of our ASCO presenters. Each one is pushing forward the treatment landscape for our patients and edging closer to our goal of zero deaths from melanoma,” said Professor Long.

04 Dec 2019

Community Fundraising November Wrap-Up

It’s time again to say thank you to our amazing community fundraisers!

03 Dec 2019

MIA & MPA Patient Information Evening videos now available

Videos of the sessions at the recent Patient Information Evening co-hosted by Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) and Melanoma Patients Australia (MPA) are now available for viewing.

Tags: Melanoma treatment

22 Nov 2019

MIA shines in poster session

MIA is well-represented in the poster sessions at the Society for Melanoma Research 2019 Congress in the USA, with four poster presentations being given by members of our translational research lab.

21 Nov 2019

MIA Co-Medical Director opens SMR Congress in USA

Professor Georgina Long has today opened the Society for Melanoma Research 2019 Congress in Salt Lake City, Utah.

20 Nov 2019

Highly Cited Researchers List names MIA Co-Medical Directors

MIA’s Co-Medical Directors, Professor Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer, have both been named Highly Cited Researchers, according to the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers 2019 list.

07 Nov 2019

MPA and MIA collaboration

Melanoma Patients Australia (MPA) and Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) have announced a new multi-year agreement to provide enhanced support services for melanoma patients nationally.

04 Nov 2019

Community Fundraising October Wrap-Up

It is time again to say thank you to our incredible community fundraisers who are helping us get closer to our goal of zero deaths from melanoma.

09 Oct 2019

Promising data for advanced melanoma patients

MIA has presented promising data regarding progression-free survival rates for advanced melanoma patients at the ESMO 2019 Congress in Barcelona.

04 Oct 2019

Melanoma Information Forum

We are delighted to partner with Melanoma Patients Australia to host a Melanoma Information Forum at The Poche Centre on 6th November.

02 Oct 2019

Community Fundraising September Wrap-Up

Another month has flown by and yet again we have a host of amazing community fundraisers who generously gave up their time to help us reach our goal of zero deaths from melanoma.

26 Sep 2019

Notice for Supporters to Submit to PBAC

Comments in favour of giving patients with BRAF-positive melanoma access to first-line immunotherapy need to be submitted online prior to October 9, 2019.

16 Sep 2019

Tune into Jay's Longest Melanoma March Channel 10 documentary

Jay's Longest Melanoma March documentary is screening this Sunday 22 September at 1pm (AEST) on Channel 10, capturing behind the scenes of the 2000km walk, Adelaide to Sydney in 50 days. Uniting to end melanoma.

11 Sep 2019

Professor Georgina Long Co -Medical Director named Women of Influence in AFR Top 100 List

We are proud to announce that our Professor Georgina Long Co -Medical Director Melanoma Institute Australia has been named in the Top 100 Financial Review 2019 Women of Influence.

04 Sep 2019

Community Fundraising August Wrap-Up

It’s been a month since we highlighted some of our incredibly generous community fundraisers. We thought we’d have a look back at August and put the spotlight on more of the wonderful people who give up their time to fundraise for MIA, so we can continue to edge closer to our goal of zero deaths from melanoma.

02 Sep 2019

From Lab Coats To Lycra - Australian Melanoma experts take on world Triathlon championships

They are a formidable team - in work and in play  –  and one set to make history on both fronts.

30 Aug 2019

Melanoma Institute Australia hosts SunSafe Student Ambassador Programs 2019

This week, Melanoma Institute Australia hosted the first of six SunSafe Student Ambassador Programs for 2019.

Tags: SunSafe

23 Aug 2019

Australia at risk of falling behind USA and Europe in preventing deadly recurrence of Melanoma

Federal government urged to provide certainty of access to immunotherapy for high risk melanoma patients.

16 Aug 2019

Team Melanoma smashes City2Surf

We want to thank every member of Team Melanoma and everyone who donated to them. With your help, we are moving closer to our goal of zero deaths from melanoma!

08 Aug 2019

Ready to run over melanoma at City2Surf 2019

Lauren O'Brien tells us why she's running for a cause close to her heart

01 Aug 2019

Community Fundraising July Wrap-Up

MIA could not do what we do without the incredible support and effort of our community fundraisers. We’d like to highlight some of the wonderful events organised by our community in the month of July that are helping us move closer to our goal of zero deaths from melanoma.

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