# Nivolumab alone or with ipilimumab in mucosal melanoma: pooled analysis

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-dangelo-mucosal-melanoma-pooled-jco-2017/  
OnCo record `paper-dangelo-mucosal-melanoma-pooled-jco-2017` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Pooling several trials showed that mucosal melanoma responds to nivolumab less often than skin melanoma, but that adding ipilimumab raised the response rate from about a quarter to more than a third, supporting combination immunotherapy first.

## Summary

Pooled analysis of 889 patients from six nivolumab trials, including 86 with mucosal melanoma treated with nivolumab monotherapy and 35 with nivolumab plus ipilimumab, compared with 665 and 326 cutaneous melanoma patients.

In mucosal melanoma, objective response was 23.3 percent with nivolumab and 37.1 percent with the combination (versus 40.9 and 60.4 percent in cutaneous melanoma), with median progression-free survival 3.0 versus 5.9 months.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-17
- Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology
- Year: 2017
- DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2016.67.9258
- Authors: D'Angelo SP, Larkin J, Sosman JA, et al.
- Findings: Mucosal melanoma objective response 23.3 percent (nivolumab) vs 37.1 percent (nivolumab plus ipilimumab).; Median progression-free survival 3.0 vs 5.9 months.
- What it means: Nivolumab plus ipilimumab is the preferred first-line immunotherapy for mucosal melanoma where tolerated, given its lower intrinsic sensitivity to single-agent PD-1 blockade.
- Caveats: Retrospective pooled analysis with small mucosal cohorts.

## Sources

- J Clin Oncol 2017: https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2016.67.9258
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28056206/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Mucosal melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/mucosal-melanoma/)
- drugs: [Ipilimumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/ipilimumab/), [Nivolumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/nivolumab/)
- journals: [Journal of Clinical Oncology](https://onco.cc/journals/jco/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/paper-dangelo-mucosal-melanoma-pooled-jco-2017.json