About

Dr. Mark Albertini is a faculty member in the Division of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care within the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the founder of the UW Carbone Cancer Center Comprehensive Melanoma Clinic, the director of the UW Carbone Cancer Center Melanoma Disease-Oriented working group, and serves as the Chief of Oncology at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital. Dr. Albertini is a nationally recognized melanoma researcher with a focus on understanding the immunobiology of human malignant melanoma to develop effective immunotherapies. His translational research program involves clinical and laboratory studies, including the use of novel immunotherapies and a preclinical spontaneous canine melanoma model to inform human studies. He has directed melanoma studies investigating chemotherapy, cytokines, monoclonal antibodies, immunocytokines, and DNA vaccines, and leads a laboratory research program exploring immune monitoring and immunocytokines as potential treatments.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Dermatology
• Cancer research
• Ophthalmology
• Internal medicine
• Immunology
• Pathology
• Surgery
• Biology

Selected publications

• Sattcr: A Pipeline for Performing Saturation Analysis of the T Cell Receptor Repertoire and a Case Study of a Healthy Canine

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• 90 Early dynamics in circulating tumor DNA versus whole body FDG-PET/CT parameters during anti-PD-1 based therapy as a predictive biomarker in advanced stage melanoma

  Regular and Young Investigator Award Abstracts · 2025-11-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• In vitro detection of canine anti-human antibodies following intratumoral injection of the hu14.18-IL2 immunocytokine in spontaneous canine melanoma

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-03-25

  preprintOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Background: Canine and human malignant melanoma are naturally occurring cancers with many similarities, making the dog an important parallel patient population to study both diseases. However, development of canine anti-human antibodies (CAHA) needs to be considered when evaluating humanized biotherapeutics in dogs. Objectives: Characterize CAHA in sera from dogs with spontaneous melanoma receiving radiotherapy and intratumoral immunocytokine (IT-IC) with humanized 14.18-IL2. Methods: Serum samples were obtained pre-treatment and at several post-treatment times from 12 dogs with locally advanced or metastatic melanoma treated with radiotherapy to the primary site and regional lymph nodes (when clinically involved) followed by IT-IC of humanized 14.18-IL2. Two CAHA assays were developed. A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect antibodies against the humanized IgG component of hu14.18-IL2. A flow cytometry assay was developed to determine the ability of CAHA to inhibit binding of a mouse anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody to its target. Results: Post-treatment sera from 7 of 12 dogs developed CAHA levels over pre-treatment that were identified by ELISA as significant increases at Day 30 and/or Day 60. Day 10, Day 30, and Day 60 post-treatment sera from 10 of 12 dogs significantly inhibited the binding of anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody to its target compared to pre-treatment. Significant binding inhibition was also detected in 2 of 12 dogs after local RT but before IT-IC (Day 1). Normal canine sera did not mediate binding inhibition. Conclusions: This study advances CAHA detection strategies and reports the kinetics of CAHA following IT-IC in dogs with spontaneous melanoma.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• SatTCR: a pipeline for performing saturation analysis of the T cell receptor repertoire and a case study of a healthy canine

  MethodsX · 2025-11-27

  articleOpen access

  Motivation: Profiling the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire using next-generation sequencing (NGS) to quantify adaptive immune responses has become common in human and animal research. Companion dogs with spontaneous tumors have similarities with humans who have cancer. T cells undergo clonal expansion when they recognize specific antigens via surface TCRs. TCR counts from NGS data provide a way to quantify T cell response to vaccines, cancer, or infectious diseases for preclinical and clinical health studies. One complication is that the power and accuracy of TCR experiments depend substantially on the TCR sequencing depth, therefore it is important to determine the optimal read depth of an experiment to verify whether a subject's repertoire is correctly represented. Results: The optimal TCR sequencing depth for future experiments can be determined by randomly sampling lower TCR sequencing depths from a sequencing experiment, assembling the TCR clonotypes, and determining where the saturation of power and accuracy occurs. Moreover, one can determine whether an existing experiment has sufficient sequencing depth to justify its conclusions. We provide guidelines to determine whether the sequencing depth is adequate and a computational pipeline that:Samples pairs of sequences and assembles clonotypesSummarizes the results in a parametrized report.

  PublisherDOI

• Abstract 4627: Correlation of early circulating tumor DNA dynamics with whole body FDG PET/CT parameters during immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in advanced stage melanoma

  Cancer Research · 2025-04-21

  article

  Background: Evaluation of tumor volume change and [18F]Fluoro-2-deoxy-2-D-glucose (FDG) uptake using whole-body PET/CT is frequently used to evaluate treatment response with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in patients with advanced stage melanoma. We previously reported that early circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) dynamics after 3-4 weeks of ICI initiation appears to be a candidate biomarker to predict treatment response. This study explores the correlation between early ctDNA dynamics and various FDG PET/CT parameters in ICI-treated patients with advanced melanoma. Methods: A prospective study was conducted for patients with unresectable stage III/IV melanoma who underwent personalized, tumor-informed ctDNA analysis (Natera) and whole-body FDG PET/CT imaging at baseline and at 3-4 weeks after treatment initiation (prior to the second dose of ICI therapy). Assessed FDG PET/CT parameters included: largest target lesion (TaL) volume, TaL SUVmax, TaL SUVmax to liver mean ratio, total lesion (ToL) SUVmax, ToL SUVmax to liver mean ratio, ToL SUVmean, and ToL SUVmean to liver ratio. Correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the relationship between early ctDNA dynamics and FDG PET/CT parameter changes. Results: Nine patients were evaluated, with a median age of 65 and a median baseline total number of metastatic lesions per patient of 6. Primary sites of melanoma included cutaneous (59%, 5/9), primary unknown (22%, 2/9), uveal (11%, 1/9), and mucosal (11%, 1/9). Disease stages included M1d (33%, 3/9), M1c (11%, 1/9), M1b (33%, 3/9), and M1a (22%, 2/9). Treatment regimens were split between ipilimumab/nivolumab (56%, 5/9) and nivolumab/relatlimab (44%, 4/9). All subjects with ctDNA decrease at 3-4 weeks had an overall partial response (6/9, 67%) or stable disease (1/9, 11%); and all other subjects with ctDNA increase had progressive disease (2/9, 22%) per RECIST v1.1. Strong correlations were observed between early ctDNA dynamics and changes in largest TaL volume (r = -0.9541), ToL SUVmax (r = 0.8697), and ToL SUVmax to liver mean ratio (r = 0.8414). Weak to moderate correlations were identified for other parameters. Conclusions: This study demonstrates very strong correlations between early ctDNA dynamics and several FDG PET/CT parameters, including largest TaL volume, ToL SUVmax, and ToL SUVmax to liver mean ratio. These findings highlight the potential of using ctDNA and FDG PET/CT as multifaceted early biomarkers of response to assess ICI efficacy. Ongoing patient enrollment and validation efforts are essential to establish their role in response-adapted treatment studies. Citation Format: Vincent T. Ma, Fauzia Hollnagel, Tomas A. Romero, Janmesh D. Patel, Alexander Birbrair, Robert J. Jeraj, Mark R. Albertini, Steve Y. Cho, Nandakumar Menon. Correlation of early circulating tumor DNA dynamics with whole body FDG PET/CT parameters during immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in advanced stage melanoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2025 Apr 25-30; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(8_Suppl_1):Abstract nr 4627.

  PublisherDOI

• In vitro detection of canine anti-human antibodies following intratumoral injection of the hu14.18-IL2 immunocytokine in spontaneous canine melanoma

  PLoS ONE · 2025-08-19

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: Canine and human malignant melanoma are naturally occurring cancers with many similarities, making the dog an important parallel patient population to study both diseases. However, development of canine anti-human antibodies (CAHA) needs to be considered when evaluating humanized biotherapeutics in dogs. OBJECTIVES: Characterize CAHA in sera from dogs with spontaneous melanoma receiving radiotherapy and intratumoral immunocytokine (IT-IC) with humanized 14.18-IL2. METHODS: Serum samples were obtained pre-treatment and at several post-treatment times from 12 dogs with locally advanced or metastatic melanoma treated with radiotherapy to the primary site and regional lymph nodes (when clinically involved) followed by IT-IC of humanized 14.18-IL2. Two CAHA assays were developed. A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect antibodies against the humanized IgG component of hu14.18-IL2. A flow cytometry assay was developed to determine the ability of CAHA to inhibit binding of a mouse anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody to its target. RESULTS: Post-treatment sera from 7 of 12 dogs developed CAHA levels over pre-treatment that were identified by ELISA as significant increases at Day 30 and/or Day 60. Day 10, Day 30, and Day 60 post-treatment sera from 10 of 12 dogs significantly inhibited the binding of anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody to its target compared to pre-treatment. Significant binding inhibition was also detected in 2 of 12 dogs after local RT but before IT-IC (Day 1). Normal canine sera did not mediate binding inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: This study advances CAHA detection strategies and reports the kinetics of CAHA following IT-IC in dogs with spontaneous melanoma.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ctDNA Dynamics Identifies Pseudoprogression in a Metastatic Melanoma Patient Treated With Nivolumab/Relatlimab

  Journal of Immunotherapy · 2025-07-07 · 1 citations

  articleCorresponding

  Pseudoprogression is known to occur in patients with metastatic melanoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors and complicates clinical decision-making. Better methods of distinguishing pseudoprogression from true progression are necessary. In this case report, we show how circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) plays a role in identifying pseudoprogression on early interval radiologic response assessment in a patient with metastatic melanoma treated with combination anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (anti-PD-1) and anti-lymphocyte activation gene 3 (anti-LAG-3). Circulating tumor DNA is a promising biomarker that has potential to reliably assess response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma, even when the radiologic findings are misleading or indeterminate. Further research is warranted to identify rates of pseudoprogression across various immune checkpoint inhibitor regimens and to identify the role of ctDNA dynamics to identify this phenomenon.

  PublisherDOI

• Malignant Melanoma With Transdifferentiation Into a Ganglioneuroblastic Phenotype After Anti-PD-1 Therapy

  American Journal of Dermatopathology · 2025-07-28 · 1 citations

  article

  ABSTRACT: The clinicopathologic spectrum of dedifferentiated, undifferentiated, and transdifferentiated melanoma occurring de novo or following systemic therapy is gaining recognition. Here, we present a patient with locally advanced cutaneous melanoma who received neoadjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy and whose post-treatment excisional pathology revealed transdifferentiation into a ganglioneuroblastic phenotype. This rare phenotype is hypothesized to be connected to melanoma's shared origin from pluripotent neural crest cells. This case report highlights the proposed pathogenic mechanisms underlying this transition after immune checkpoint therapy, including the pathways and factors that affect the tumor and its microenvironment.

  PublisherDOI

• Endoscopic Ultrasound With Fine Needle Biopsy Confirming a Diagnosis of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor‐Related Type 3 Autoimmune Pancreatitis

  Case Reports in Gastrointestinal Medicine · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitor-related pancreatitis, also known as type 3 autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP), is uncommon and has a widely ranging clinical presentation. We present the biopsy findings of a case consistent with type 3 AIP-an entity recently described in the literature, the pathologic findings of which have not been well characterized. Case Report: A 71-year-old male with metastatic mucosal melanoma of the urethra was treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy (nivolumab/relatlimab) and developed vague epigastric discomfort. He was found to have an elevated lipase, which increased to > 20x the upper limit of normal. Subsequent imaging showed new infiltrative masses in the pancreatic head and distal body/tail. Endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle biopsy (FNB) was performed. This showed T-lymphocyte predominant infiltrates, in the acini and septal areas, with concomitant acinar, duct, and venular damage, including both CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes, which were considered consistent with type 3 AIP. He was treated successfully with prednisone. Discussion: On biopsy, there was no evidence of malignancy or features of type 1 or type 2 AIP. Histologic findings included moderate infiltration and damage to the pancreatic parenchyma, ductal, and vascular structures by CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes, pointing to immune-mediated pancreatic injury, and supportive of ICI-mediated injury to the pancreas of this patient. The clinical presentation of type 3 AIP ranges from asymptomatic lipase elevation to asymptomatic pancreatitis to acute symptomatic pancreatitis. There may be no clear temporal relationship to treatment initiation. Type 3 AIP typically presents along with other immune-related adverse events. Endoscopic ultrasound with FNB contributed to diagnostic certainty in this case and changed our patient's management, allowing for appropriate treatment of his immune-related adverse event.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Surrogate selection oversamples expanded T cell clonotypes

  The Annals of Applied Statistics · 2025-08-28

  articleOpen access

  Surrogate selection is an experimental design that without sequencing any DNA can restrict a sample of cells to those carrying certain genomic mutations. In immunological disease studies, this design may provide a relatively easy approach to enrich a lymphocyte sample with cells relevant to the disease response because the emergence of neutral mutations associates with the proliferation history of clonal subpopulations. A statistical analysis of clonotype sizes provides a structured, quantitative perspective on this useful property of surrogate selection. Our model specification couples within-clonotype birth-death processes with an exchangeable model across clonotypes. Beyond enrichment questions about the surrogate selection design, our framework enables a study of sampling properties of elementary sample diversity statistics; it also points to new statistics that may usefully measure the burden of somatic genomic alterations associated with clonal expansion. We examine statistical properties of immunological samples governed by the coupled model specification, and we illustrate calculations in surrogate selection studies of melanoma and in single-cell genomic studies of T cell repertoires.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant F32CA008397

  NIH · $57k

• NIH Grant R29CA068466

  NIH · $493k · 2001

• NIH Grant K12CA087718

  NIH · $3.8M · 2010

Frequent coauthors

• Paul M. Sondel

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  150 shared

• Cindy Zuleger

  University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center

  114 shared

• Jacquelyn A. Hank

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  110 shared

• Erik A. Ranheim

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  62 shared

• Zachary S. Morris

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  61 shared

• Michael A. Newton

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  60 shared

• KyungMann Kim

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  57 shared

• William J. Maples

  54 shared

Education

• M.D., Medicine

  University of Vermont, College of Medicine

• Other, Internal Medicine

  University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics

• Other, Tumor Immunology

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

• Other, Medical Oncology and Biotherapy

  University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center

Awards & honors

• Professionalism Award from Department of Medicine housestaff
• UW Health Patient Experience Physician Champion Award
• listed by the Best Doctors in America organization