Combination Therapy in Geriatric Population with Cancer (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Therapy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2025 | Viewed by 655

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Medical Oncology, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 101, 1090 Brussels, Belgium
Interests: geriatric oncology; lung cancer; immunotherapy resistance
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the second edition of a previous one, entitled "Combination Therapy in Geriatric Population with Cancer" (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers/special_issues/1DYHD6A28E).

Cancer has a higher chance of developing with age. The increasing life expectancy of the population will, therefore, result in an increasing number of older patients with cancer. Treatment decisions in the older population are often challenging for various reasons. Firstly, the older population is more vulnerable in terms of frailty, organ reserve, comorbidities, polypharmacy, and expectations. Secondly, registration trials predominantly include young and fit patients due to the stringent in- and exclusion criteria, resulting in a lack of data about those outside of these requirements. In addition, the main endpoints of these trials are often survival-related (either overall survival or progression-free survival). Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge on the efficacy, safety, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics of treatments in older patients. Data on the effect of treatments on daily functioning and quality of life in this older population are, therefore, scarce.

In this Special Issue of Cancers, we welcome original research articles or comprehensive review articles focusing on different treatments (including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and combinations) for older patients with cancer, regardless of cancer type.

Prof. Dr. Lore Decoster
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • older patients with cancer
  • surgery
  • radiotherapy
  • chemotherapy
  • immunotherapy
  • targeted therapy

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

16 pages, 374 KiB  
Review
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in the Treatment of Advanced Melanoma in Older Patients: An Overview of Published Data
by Marko Lens and Jacob Schachter
Cancers 2025, 17(11), 1835; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17111835 - 30 May 2025
Viewed by 466
Abstract
Melanoma has important burden in older populations due to high incidence and aggressive biology. The emergence of immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapy (BRAF/MEK inhibitors) significantly improved melanoma prognosis. Currently, the body of knowledge on the efficacy and tolerability of these [...] Read more.
Melanoma has important burden in older populations due to high incidence and aggressive biology. The emergence of immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapy (BRAF/MEK inhibitors) significantly improved melanoma prognosis. Currently, the body of knowledge on the efficacy and tolerability of these treatments in geriatric patients is primarily based on the results outside of clinical trials since the majority of clinical studies do not include older patients. We present a comprehensive narrative review of published data regarding efficacy and safety of therapeutic modalities using immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients age 65–75 years and >75 years: the anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitor (ipilimumab), the anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-1) inhibitors (nivolumab and pembrolizumab), and the lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3) inhibitor (relatlimab). We carefully address difficulties in multi-disciplinary clinical decision-making in care of older melanoma patients. Although many older patients may not be offered immunotherapy, the available evidence indicates that immunotherapy is equally beneficial in the older patients and does not have higher incidence of adverse events in this group of patients compared to younger population. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combination Therapy in Geriatric Population with Cancer (2nd Edition))
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