Dr. Antoni Ribas on the Search for Immunotherapy Biomarkers in Melanoma

Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine, surgery, and molecular and medical pharmacology at the University of California, discusses selecting patients for immunotherapeutic agents in melanoma.

Right now, besides PD-L1, there are limited biomarkers available to select patients, says Ribas.

To better understand potential biomarkers, there must first be a better understanding of the presence of immune cells in the tumor and of the T-cells that are triggering PD-L1 expression, says Ribas. There will also have to be an understanding of what those T-cells are, says Ribas.

It will also have to be determined if T-cells are recognizing tumor antigens, and if the tumor is something the immune system can recognize because it has high mutational loads and has a certain genetic profile that is permissive to an immune system, says RIbas.