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Purpose: To investigate the clinical value of the inflammation based prognostic scores for patients with radiosurgically treated brain metastases (BM) originating from non-pulmonary primary tumor (PT)., Methods: A retrospective analysis of 340 BM patients of different PT origin (melanoma, breast, gastrointestinal, or genitourinary cancer) was performed. Pre-radiosurgical laboratory prognostic scores, such as the Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), the Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR), Lymphocyte-to-Monocyte Ratio (LMR), and the modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS), were investigated within 14 days before the first Gamma Knife radiosurgical treatment (GKRS1)., Results: In our study cohort, the estimated survival was significantly longer in patients with NLR < 5 (p < 0.001), LMR > 4 (p = 0.001) and in patients with a mGPS score of 0 (p < 0.001). Furthermore, univariate and multivariate Cox regression models revealed NLR ≥ 5, LMR < 4 and mGPS score ≥ 1 as independent prognostic factors for an increased risk of death even after adjusting for age, sex, KPS, extracranial metastases status, presence of neurological symptoms and treatment with immunotherapy (IT) or targeted therapy (TT)., Conclusions: Summarizing previously published and present data, pre-radiosurgical mGPS and NLR groups seem to be the most effective and simple independent prognostic factors to predict clinical outcome in radiosurgically treated BM patients., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Melanoma brain metastases (MBM) are common and associated with a particularly poor prognosis; they directly cause death in 60-70% of melanoma patients. In the past, systemic treatments have shown response rates around 5%, whole brain radiation as standard of care has achieved a median overall survival of approximately three months. Recently, the combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors and combinations of MAP-kinase inhibitors both have shown very promising response rates of up to 55% and 58%, respectively, and improved survival. However, current clinical evidence is based on multi-cohort studies only, as prospectively randomized trials have been carried out rarely in MBM, independently whether investigating systemic therapy, radiotherapy or surgical techniques. Here, an interdisciplinary expert team reviewed the outcome of prospectively conducted clinical studies in MBM, identified evidence gaps and provided recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment, outcome evaluation and monitoring of MBM patients. The recommendations refer to four distinct scenarios: patients (i) with 'brain-only' disease, (ii) with oligometastatic asymptomatic intra- and extracranial disease, (iii) with multiple asymptomatic metastases, and (iv) with multiple symptomatic MBM or leptomeningeal disease. Changes in current management recommendations comprise the use of immunotherapy - preferably combined anti-CTLA-4/PD-1-immunotherapy - in asymptomatic MBM minus/plus stereotactic radiosurgery which remains the mainstay of local brain therapy being safe and effective. Adjuvant whole-brain radiotherapy provides no clinical benefit in oligometastatic MBM. Among the systemic therapies, combined MAPK-kinase inhibition provides, in BRAF V600 -mutated patients with rapidly progressing or/and symptomatic MBM, an alternative to combined immunotherapy., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare to have following potential conflicts of interest: RG reports personal fees and non-financial support from Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck Serono, Novartis, Pierre Fabre, Roche and Sanofi Regeneron; personal fees from 4SC, Almirall Hermal, MSD and SUN Pharma; grants from Johnson & Johnson;, grants and personal fees form Pfizer; and grants, personal fees and non-financial support from Novartis. DV reports personal fees and non-financial support from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chugai, Ferring, Lilly and Roche; grants, personal fees and non-financial support from Merck. JCH reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, MSD, Novartis, Pierre Fabre, Sanofi, SUN Pharma and grants from Bristol-Myers Squibb. DK reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb during the conduct of this project, and from Novocure. CW has nothing to disclose. DS reports personal fees and non-financial support from Amgen, Merck Serono and Roche/Genentech; personal fees from 4SC, Agenus, Array BioPharma; Immunocore, Incyte, Pierre Fabre, Nektar, Pfizer, Philogen; Sandoz, Sanofi/Regeneron and from Regeneron; non-financial support from Merck; grants, personal fees, and other from Bristol-Myers Squibb (also during the conduct of this project); grants, personal fees, non-financial support and other from Novartis. TS is an employee of Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co KGaA (Munich, Germany), and reports personal fees from Bristol Myers-Squibb. SR reports a radiosurgery study grant from Accuray Inc outside the submitted work. TP reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb (during and outside the conduct of this project), Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Janssen, MSD, Novartis, Roche and Takeda. CH reports consultancy, advisory boards and/or lectures for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Incyte, MSD, Novartis, Pierre Fabre and Roche. TKE reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb (during and outside the conduct of the project); personal fees from Leo Pharma, MSD, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi. FM reports travel support or/and speaker’s fees or/and advisor’s honoraria by Novartis, Roche, BMS, MSD and Pierre Fabre and research funding from Novartis and Roche., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Few safety data of concurrent stereotactic radiosurgery and targeted therapy (TT) or immunotherapy (IT) are available. The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcome of melanoma patients with brain metastases (MBM) after Gamma Knife Radiosurgery (GKRS) in relation to IT/TT., Methods: We evaluated 182 MBM patients, who were treated with GKRS in the modern radiosurgical and oncological era., Results: The median time between the initial melanoma diagnosis and occurrence of MBM was 2.4 years. The median overall survival time was 5.4 years after melanoma diagnosis. The estimated median survival after the initial diagnosis of MBM was 1.0 year (95% CI = 0.7-1.2 years). Patients treated with anti-PD-1 or a combination of anti-CTLA-4/PD-1 showed a significantly longer survival after first GKRS compared to all other forms of treatment. In addition, patients treated with anti-PD-1, anti-CTLA-4, or a combination of anti-CTLA-4/PD-1 showed a significantly longer time to new MBM after GKRS1 compared to patients treated with other forms and combinations of the oncological therapy. The occurrence of hemorrhage or radiation reaction/necrosis after GKRS did not show any statistically significant differences in relation to IT/TT., Conclusion: In MBM patients, complications after GKRS are not significantly increased if IT/TT treatment is performed at the time of or after radiosurgery. Further, a clear benefit in distant control and survival is seen in MBM patients treated with GKRS and checkpoint inhibitors. Thus, concomitant treatment of MBM with GKRS and IT/TT seems to be a safe and powerful treatment option although further prospective studies should be conducted., (© 2020 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic relevance of temporal muscle thickness (TMT) in melanoma patients with newly diagnosed brain metastases., Methods: TMT was retrospectively assessed in 146 melanoma patients with newly diagnosed brain metastases on cranial magnetic resonance images. Chart review was used to retrieve clinical parameters, including disease-specific graded prognostic assessment (DS-GPA) and survival times., Results: Patients with a TMT > median showed a statistically significant increase in survival time (13 months) compared to patients with a TMT < median (5 months; p < 0.001; log rank test). A Cox regression model revealed that the risk of death was increased by 27.9% with every millimeter reduction in TMT. In the multivariate analysis, TMT (HR 0.724; 95% 0.642-0.816; < 0.001) and DS-GPA (HR 1.214; 95% CI 1.023-1.439; p = 0.026) showed a statistically significant correlation with overall survival., Conclusion: TMT is an independent predictor of survival in melanoma patients with brain metastases. This parameter may aid in patient selection for clinical trials or to the choice of different treatment options based on the determination of frail patient populations.

Aims: In this study we aimed to characterize immune infiltrates and expression of programmed death 1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) in a series of melanoma BM to provide a basis for experimental therapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors., Methods and Results: We investigated expression of PD-1, PD-L1, CD3, CD8, CD45RO, forkhead box protein 3 (FoxP3), CD20 and BRAF V600E by immunohistochemistry in melanoma BM samples. Forty-three specimens [27 of which (62.8%) were BRAF V600E-positive] were available. CD3(+) tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were evident in 33 specimens (76.7%), CD8(+) in 39 (90.7%), CD45RO(+) in 32 (74.4%), PD-1(+) in 27 (62.8%), FoxP3(+) in 21 (48.8%) and CD20(+) TILs in 19 (44.2%). Tumour PD-L1 expression was observed in 22 specimens (51.1%), and in nine of these (40.9%) expression was observed in more than 5% of tumour cells. PD-L1 expression was associated with higher density of PD-1(+) (P < 0.001), CD3(+) (P = 0.014) and FoxP3(+) (P < 0.001) TIL infiltration. Density of CD3(+) TILs was associated with density of CD8(+) (P < 0.001), PD-1(+) (P < 0.001) and CD45RO(+) (P < 0.001) TILs. PD-L1 expression or PD-1(+) , CD3(+) , CD8(+) or CD45RO(+) TILs density did not correlate with BRAF V600E status, previous systemic therapy or survival (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: Melanoma BM showed considerable lymphocytic infiltrates and expression of PD-L1 in the majority of investigated specimens, with high PD-L1 expression found predominantly in regions of abundant inflammation. Our data indicate that clinical studies should investigate the value of checkpoint inhibitors in patients with melanoma BMs., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)