Injectable Therapies for Regional Melanoma

Abstract

Patients with unresectable cutaneous, subcutaneous, or nodal melanoma metastases are often candidates for injectable therapies, which are attractive for ease of intralesional delivery to superficial metastases and limited systemic toxicity profiles. Injectable or intralesional therapies can be part of multifaceted treatment strategies to kill tumor directly or to alter the tumor so as to make it more sensitive to systemic therapy. Talimogene laherparepvec is the only Food and Drug Administration-approved injectable therapy currently in wide clinical use in the United States, although ongoing trials are evaluating novel intralesional agents as well as combinations with systemic therapies, particularly checkpoint inhibitors.

Keywords: Immunotherapy; In-transit melanoma; Injectable therapies; Intralesional therapies; Melanoma vaccines; Oncolytic viral therapy.