Onkológia 5/2013

Ipilimumab – new drug, new experience

Purpose: Ipilimumab is a fully human monoclonal immunoglobin (IgG1k) that binds to the cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) molecule expressed on a subset of T cells and acts as a potentiator of T cell activity. It is also known from several studies that ipilimumab prolongs overall survival in patients with both, pre-treated and naive metastatic melanoma. Case: These case report documents the huge long-lasting benefit from ipilimumab‘s induction phase treatment in heavily pre-treated patient, who tends to complete remission of the disease. Results: EAP (Expanded Access Program), in which we participated, provides a large safety database for ipilimumab. Conclusion: The development of ipilimumab for treatment of melanoma represents the first approach that has shown improvement of overall survival in advanced melanoma patients in the past few decades. In addition, treatment with ipilimumab is associated with durable disease control in the majority of responding patients.

Keywords: ipilimumab, EAP, case report.