Malignant melanoma is an important issue in oncology due to its high incidence, high mortality, and resistance to systemic therapy; however, targeted immunotherapy has noticeably improved the survival rates of melanoma patients. Promising targeted immunotherapies for malignant melanoma include the blockade of immune checkpoints with antibodies targeting cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 and the programmed cell death protein 1 pathway. The US FDA-approved antibody ipilimumab targets cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4; however, it was limited by toxicity and a low response. Nivolumab and pembrolizumab (formerly lambrolizumab), the two FDA-approved anti-programmed death-1 monoclonal antibodies, show highly durable response rates and long-term safety, validating the importance of the programmed cell death protein 1 pathway blockade for treatment of malignant melanoma.

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Although SeNPs showed a noticeable boosting effect for the immune response in mice bearing tumor exposed to crude antigens of 4T1 cells, further complementary studies seem to be inevitable.

The present study proposed that the administration of SeNPs with a conventional HBs antigen vaccine induces a better immune response with a Th1 bias.

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Malignant melanoma (MM) is an aggressive disease with a rapidly rising incidence due to neoplasm of melanocytes. Molecular targeted therapies have demonstrated lower toxicity and improved overall survival versus conventional therapies of MM. The revealing of mutations in the BRAF/MEK/ERK pathway has led to the development of BRAF inhibitors such as vemurafenib and dabrafenib for the treatment of cutaneous MM. Though, progression of resistance to these agents has prompted attempts to target downstream proteins in this pathway. Trametinib, a MEK1/2 inhibitor, was approved in 2013 for the treatment of BRAF V600E/K mutation-positive unresectable or metastatic cutaneous melanoma patients. Areas covered: The aim of the current review is to present an update on the role of MEK in progressive melanomas and summarize latest results of clinical studies with innovative MEK inhibitors and/or combined approaches with other kinase inhibitors such as BRAF inhibitors in the treatment of MM. Expert opinion: Two combined treatments (i.e. trametinib plus dabrafenib and vemurafenib plus cobimetinib) target two different kinases in the BRAF/MEK/ERK pathway. The simultaneous prohibition of both MEK and BRAF is associated with more durable response rate than BRAF monotherapy and can overcome acquired resistance.

The modification of tumor-associated antigen-based vaccine to elicit a more robust immune response has been addressed in several ways. In the present work, we aimed to investigate the immunomodulatory effect of selenium nanoparticles as an immunoadjuvant in formulation of a tumor-associated antigen-based vaccine in a preventive form. Fortyfive female inbred BALB/c mice five-to-seven weeks old were used and divided into three groups of test and control, each containing fifteen mice. Group one injected by PBS and used as a control. Group two injected by breast tumor cell lysate alone as vaccine. Group three injected by SeNPs with tumor cell lysate as vaccine. All injections were carried out on day fourteen, twentyone and twentyeight of the study. Tumor induction was done at day thirty. Twenty days after tumor induction serum samples were gathered to measure the cytokine assay. Tumor growth and weight of mice as well as delayed type hyper sensitivity (DTH) response were monitored during the study. Results of the present work showed a significant increase in the level of serum IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-12 and decreased TGF-β in SeNPs/vaccine injected mice as well as lower tumor volume, more potent DTH responses and longer survival rate in comparison to control and tumor lysate vaccine. Taken together, it can be deduced from this work that SeNPs can be considered as an adjuvant in vaccine in triggering robust immune response against breast cancer. But further evaluations are still needed to find the best formula for this agent in antitumor vaccines.