What is melanoma?
melanoma
Melanoma is tracked in the supplied material through two research threads: spatial-ecotype analysis of tumor microenvironments and messenger RNA-based therapy. Aaron Newman described identifying nine distinct tumor microenvironments, called spatial ecotypes, present across cancer types and studied in melanoma.
How it developed
- Jul 2026 - Aaron Newman said nine distinct tumor microenvironments, termed spatial ecotypes, were identified across cancer types, with the study focusing on melanomas among others.
- Jul 2026 - Newman reported a nearly perfect correlation between individual spatial ecotype response associations in a blood test and those observed in independent melanoma patients from surgical tumor biopsies.
- Sep 2026 - Stéphane Bancel said around 80% of people were disease free five years after their treatment.
- Sep 2026 - Bancel said it was the first time an agent in melanoma performed better than the comparator alone.
- Sep 2026 - Bancel said meeting the secondary endpoint of distant metastasis free survival was a surprise even to the company.
In the evidence
Every line below is attributed to a named speaker.
A cell-free DNA methylation blood test showed near-perfect concordance with tissue-based spatial ecotype analysis for predicting immunotherapy response in melanoma patients.
“We observed a nearly perfect correlation between, you know, the individual spatial ecotype response associations in the blood test and those that we had also observed in independent melanoma patients from their surgical tumor biopsies.”Aaron Newman · 3 Jul 2026
Around 80% of patients in Moderna's Phase 2 melanoma trial were disease-free five years after treatment with the mRNA cancer vaccine plus pembrolizumab.
“You had around 80% of people that were disease free five years after their treatment.”Stéphane Bancel · 2 Sep 2026
Stéphane Bancel on the mRNA cancer vaccine beating Keytruda alone in melanoma.
“It's a first time that there is an agent in melanoma that is better than kudra alone.”Stéphane Bancel · 2 Sep 2026
Nine distinct spatial ecotypes of the tumor microenvironment were identified and confirmed conserved across carcinomas and melanomas.
“We identified nine distinct tumor microenvironments or neighborhoods that we called spatial ecotypes. These nine spatial ecotypes are, you know, present across different cancer types and in our study we focused which are the majority of cancers as well as melanomas.”Aaron Newman · 3 Jul 2026
The Phase 3 melanoma trial's distant metastasis-free survival secondary endpoint was met at the first interim analysis, an outcome that surprised even Moderna's own team.
“What was a surprise even to us is we met the secondary endpoint which was distant metastasis free survival.”Stéphane Bancel · 2 Sep 2026