Adjuvant systemic therapies for resected stage III melanoma — notably anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors and BRAF and MEK inhibitors (BRAFi/MEKi) for BRAFV600-mutant disease — were approved after randomized trials demonstrated improvements in recurrence-free survival (RFS). Those pivotal trials, however, did not demonstrate a clear overall survival (OS) benefit at the time of reporting. TAMARIS was designed to evaluate whether adjuvant strategies influence OS in a real-world, routine-care population.
TAMARIS is a national, multicenter retrospective study leveraging data collected prospectively in the French RIC-Mel database. Inclusion criteria reported in the abstract were: resectable stage III melanoma defined according to the AJCC 8th edition and complete surgical resection performed between 2018 and 2023.
The cohort comprised 1,016 patients with a median age of 60 years. The study compared patients who received adjuvant systemic therapy (the adjuvant group) to those who underwent observation without systemic adjuvant treatment (the control group). The abstract specifies that 701 patients (69%) received adjuvant therapies, described as either anti-PD-1 agents or BRAF and MEK inhibitors, but the provided text does not include a full breakdown by specific agent, dose, duration, or timing.
The abstract in the source ends mid-sentence and does not include the detailed results. Reported elements available before truncation include cohort size, median age, and the number and proportion of patients who received adjuvant therapy (701/1,016, 69%). The full numerical outcomes for overall survival (OS), hazard ratios, confidence intervals, median follow-up time, event counts, or p values are not present in the excerpt provided.
Because the central outcome data and conclusions are not included in the source text supplied here, specific findings on whether adjuvant anti-PD-1 or BRAFi/MEKi therapy was associated with improved, unchanged, or worsened OS in this real-world cohort cannot be summarized from this excerpt alone.
The abstract states that the association between adjuvant strategy (adjuvant treatment versus observation) and OS was evaluated using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. To limit potential confounding inherent to observational data, the investigators also applied inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). These methods indicate an intention to adjust for baseline imbalances and estimate treatment effects in a way that approximates causal comparisons within the limits of non-randomized data.
The authors reported that subgroup analyses were conducted by baseline characteristics and by treatment regimens. The abstract does not list the specific subgroups evaluated (for example, nodal stage, ulceration, BRAF mutation status, or performance status), nor does it present subgroup results in the provided excerpt.
The source excerpt is truncated and omits critical outcome data and detailed methods. Missing items in the supplied text include:
Because these elements are not reported in the abstract excerpt provided here, any definitive interpretation of TAMARIS findings requires consulting the full published article (Eur J Cancer, DOI: 10.1016/j.ejca.2026.116878).
The abstract supplied indicates the study aim and describes cohort size, treatments received, and the analytic framework (Cox regression and IPTW). However, the core outcome data and resulting conclusions regarding the impact of adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy or BRAF and MEK inhibitors on overall survival (OS) in resected stage III melanoma are not present in the excerpt. Readers should review the full article for the complete results, effect estimates, and authors' interpretation before applying findings to clinical practice.
The full article is cited in the source: Eur J Cancer. 2026; DOI 10.1016/j.ejca.2026.116878. For complete outcome data, subgroup analyses, and methodological details omitted from the abstract excerpt, consult the published manuscript or the journal site.