Ocular Melanoma: Disparity in PD-L1 expression between metastatic uveal and cutaneous melanoma

ASCO 2016: Poster Session 146

This study examined the presence of the PD-L1 ligand on both cutenous and uveal metastic tumours. PD-L1 expression has been considered as a possible biomarker to determine the likely efficacy of immune-modulatory drugs, although questions still remain as to its prognostic value and also what might acurately be considered a threshold value to indicate its presence.

In ocular melanoma however, PD-L1 is virtually non-existent in the metastatic setting and the authors suggest that this may explain the lower of response from drugs such as Pembrolizumab or Nivolumab.