Basal cell carcinoma is the most common skin cancer in the Caucasian population. The cancer arises in sun exposed areas of the skin. The incidence of morbidity is high and it is still growing. The metastatic rate is low, but the enlarging tumor may cause severe tissue disfigurement and a poor cosmetic outcome. The diagnosis is usually clinical but there are many subtypes of this carcinoma and correct diagnosis is the clue to appropriate treatment of the lesion. The main problem in basal cell carcinoma management is the high recurrence rate.

In breast cancer patients with bone metastasis, several bisphosphonates and denosumab demonstrated clinical efficacy. On the other hand, in patients with bone metastases from prostate cancer or other solid tumors only zoledronic acid and denosumab were clinically active. However, neither bisphosphonates nor denosumab have any positive impact on survival of patients with bone metastases. In a recent interim analysis of a Phase III clinical study, a novel bone-modulating agent - radium-223 chloride (alpharadin), a bone-seeking alpha emitter, has been demonstrated to significantly improve median overall survival of prostate cancer patients with bone metastases compared with placebo.

Cytokines can impede tumour growth and activate innate and adaptive immune responses, leading to elimination of cancer cells. For many years, it was believed that systemic administration of recombinant cytokines might become a standard treatment of different cancer types. However, due to a high toxicity of therapeutic doses and a low efficacy, even in combination with chemotherapy, this strategy is generally not accepted. On the other hand, cancer gene therapy approaches utilising cells modified with cytokine genes seem to represent a novel promising approach. For the last decade, numerous Phase I and II clinical trials evaluating different therapies based on cytokine gene-modified cells have been carried out. In the early studies, several strategies have been shown to improve clinical outcomes and induce strong antitumour immune responses. Recently, a few prospective, randomised, Phase III clinical trials have been initiated in order to finally determine the efficacy of particular cancer immunogene therapy strategies. This article reviews the present status and perspectives of clinical trials of cancer immunotherapies utilising cytokine gene-modified cells.

About 40% to 60% of melanomas present BRAF mutation. Selective BRAF inhibitors such as vemurafenib and dabrafenib are currently approved for the treatment of advanced melanoma patients with BRAF mutation. The treatment-induced tumor regression occurs in the majority of patients; however, acquired resistance to BRAF inhibitors is observed in most of the patients after 6 to 7 months. After progression of the disease, the patient might be offered treatment with ipilimumab followed by chemotherapy. Subsequent lines of systemic treatment of metastatic melanoma patients do not exist.Here we report a case of a 59-year-old woman with a diagnosis of BRAF-mutant metastatic melanoma that responded to initial treatment with vemurafenib. Subsequently, after disease progression, the patient received chemotherapy. Since no clinical response to dacarbazine was observed, carboplatin with paclitaxel were applied. Transient partial response was obtained, which was followed by further disease progression. Then retreatment with vemurafenib was applied. The patient developed very short-term tumor regression and significant biochemical response (serum lactate dehydrogenase, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase) to the treatment. However, following 5 weeks of retreatment, the patient developed progression of the disease. Our clinical observation indicates that in melanoma patients who developed resistance to selective BRAF inhibitors, rechallenge after treatment interruption might be beneficial.