PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gustavo Schvartsman
AU  - Kristen Perez
AU  - Jill E. Flynn
AU  - Jeffrey N. Myers
AU  - Hussein Tawbi
TI  - Safe and effective administration of T-VEC in a patient with heart transplantation and recurrent locally advanced melanoma
AID  - 10.1186/s40425-017-0250-5
DP  - 2017 Dec 01
TA  - Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
PG  - 45
VI  - 5
IP  - 1
4099  - http://jitc.bmj.com/content/5/1/45.short
4100  - http://jitc.bmj.com/content/5/1/45.full
SO  - J Immunother Cancer2017 Dec 01; 5
AB  - Background Immunotherapy plays a key role in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Patients with autoimmune conditions and/or on immunosuppressive therapy due to orthotropic transplants, however, are systematically excluded from clinical trials. Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) is the first oncolytic virus to be approved by the FDA for cancer therapy. To our knowledge, this is the first report of T-VEC being administered in the setting of an organ transplant recipient.Case presentation Here we present the case of a patient with recurrent locally advanced cutaneous melanoma receiving salvage T-VEC therapy in the setting of orthotropic heart transplantation. After 5 cycles of therapy, no evidence of graft rejection has been observed to date, and the patient achieved a complete remission, and is currently off therapy.Conclusion This case advocates for further investigation on the safety and efficacy of immunotherapeutic approaches, such as T-VEC, in solid organ transplant recipients.Abbreviations:CTLA4 - Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4FDAFood and Drug AdministrationPD-1Programmed-death-1TVECTalimogene laherparepvecWLEWide local excision