Study Shows Personalized Vaccine Could Help Prevent Melanoma Recurrence
Key Takeaways:
• Personalized vaccine intismeran plus pembrolizumab cut melanoma recurrence risk by 49% in a phase 2 trial
• Five years after surgery, 68% of combination therapy patients remained cancer-free compared with 49% on pembrolizumab alone
• Researchers say a phase 3 trial could establish the mRNA-based vaccine as a new melanoma treatment standard
A new study is showing promising results to help reduce the chances of melanoma reemerging after patients undergo surgery.
The study led by researchers at NYU Langone Health showed a 49% decreased risk in melanoma returning after patients received the combination of a personalized vaccine called intismeran and pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug that is one of the current standards for postsurgical treatment.
The updated five-year results from the phase 2 trial were presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.
“If the phase 3 trial of intismeran plus pembrolizumab confirms the benefit seen in the phase 2 trial, it will lead to a new standard of care to reduce the risk of relapse for high-risk melanoma,” said Nikhil Khushalani, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center’s Cutaneous Oncology Department vice chair.
How it Works
Pembrolizumab or the related drug nivolumab are already widely used to decrease the risk of melanoma recurrence after primary treatment like surgery.
In this study, which enrolled 157 patients, the addition of intismeran, has shown to help increase the effectiveness of pembrolizumab without adding more immunotherapy-related side effects.
Intismeran is manufactured directly from each individual patient’s own melanoma using mRNA technology similar to that used in some COVID-19 vaccines, Vernon Sondak, MD, Moffitt’s Cutaneous Oncology Department chair says.
Vernon Sondak, MD
Promising Results
Researchers followed up with patients five years post-surgery and found 68% of patients who took the combination therapy were still in remission, compared to 49% of patients who only took pembrolizumab. Overall, it showed a 49% reduction in the risk of recurrence.
Researchers also noted that overall survival at five years was 92% among patients who received the combination therapy, compared with 71% among those who received pembrolizumab alone.
Potential Impact on Standard of Care
Oncologists and team members at Moffitt already administer adjuvant immunotherapy to many patients with high-risk melanoma, including those in whom the melanoma has spread to the lymph nodes as well as some with high-risk primary tumors even without lymph node spread.
Sondak says the personalized neoantigen approach could also have potential value for patients receiving presurgical neoadjuvant immunotherapy, particularly in cases where a significant amount of tumor remains after preoperative treatment.
“That specific approach hasn’t been tested yet, but it is just one example of how this personalized mRNA technology could be used to help even more of our melanoma patients,” Sondak said.
The phase 3 trial is currently underway, with results potentially expected as early as this fall. Researchers say the personalized mRNA vaccine approach is also being tested to prevent the recurrence of lung and other cancers.
