Cancers, Vol. 11, Pages 834: Uveal Melanoma, Angiogenesis and Immunotherapy, Is There Any Hope?

Cancers, Vol. 11, Pages 834: Uveal Melanoma, Angiogenesis and Immunotherapy, Is There Any Hope? Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers11060834 Authors: Florian Castet Sandra Garcia-Mulero Rebeca Sanz-Pamplona Andres Cuellar Oriol Casanovas Josep Caminal Josep Piulats Uveal melanoma is considered a rare disease but it is the most common intraocular malignancy in adults. Local treatments are effective, but the systemic recurrence rate is unacceptably high. Moreover, once metastasis have developed the prognosis is poor, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 5%, and systemic therapies, including immunotherapy, have rendered poor results. The tumour biology is complex, but angiogenesis is a highly important pathway in these tumours. Vasculogenic mimicry, the ability of melanomas to generate vascular channels independently of endothelial cells, could play an important role, but no effective therapy targeting this process has been developed so far. Angiogenesis modulates the tumour microenvironment of melanomas, and a close interplay is established between them. Therefore, combining immune strategies with drugs targeting angiogenesis offers a new therapeutic paradigm. In preclinical studies, these approaches effectively target these tumours, and a phase I clinical study has shown encouraging results in cutaneous melanomas. In this review, we will discuss the importance of angiogenesis in uveal melanoma, with a special focus on vasculogenic mimicry, and describe the inte...
Source: Cancers - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research