METHOD FOR PREDICTING THE RESPONSE TO IMMUNOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH CUTANEOUS MELANOMA

Cancer is one of the most studied diseases in recent years, due to its high incidence and mortality. There are different types of cancer depending on the tissue and/or organ affected, one of them is melanoma, which is an aggressive malignant tumor of epidermal melanocytes. Cutaneous melanoma has increasingly higher incidence rates in the Western world. If cutaneous melanoma becomes metastatic, treatment options and survival chances decrease dramatically. Today, there are different treatments depending on the type of cancer. Among these, immunotherapy treatments based on immune checkpoint inhibitors (PD-1 and CLTA4) have been a major advance in the treatment of metastatic cutaneous melanoma. The problem is that a percentage of patients are insensitive or develop resistance, so it is necessary to have a pattern of predictive biomarkers that allow deciding whether or not to use anti-PD1 and CLTA4. To this end, a research group has identified a molecular biomarker profile of ceRNA, which allows patients to be classified according to their response profile, based on variations in gene expression. This profile allows patients to be classified as responders (partial, complete or stable) or non-responders (severe or non-severe), allowing more individualised treatments and follow-ups to be established depending on each patient.

Competitive advantages

- It allows determining in advance whether treatment with anti-PD1/anti-CLTA4 is suitable for the patient suffering from metastatic cutaneous melanoma. - It reduces the economic costs and adverse effects associated with the use of treatments with no response for certain patients. - It improves the options for personalised treatments and therefore the healthcare and quality of life of patients.

Uses and applications

The application of the invention is in the field of oncology, specifically in the detection of pathologies associated with cutaneous melanoma. Melanoma is currently one of the most aggressive types of skin cancer, accounting for up to 80% of skin cancer-related deaths worldwide. The present invention facilitates the clinical management of patients with cutaneous melanoma. It may assist in decision-making when deciding whether the use of immunotherapy treatment is appropriate for patients.