University of Oulu

Tikkanen, A., Iivanainen, S. & Koivunen, J.P. Treatment discontinuation and re-initiation of anti-PD-(L)1 agents in metastatic cancers. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 146, 2153–2160 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03217-7

Treatment discontinuation and re-initiation of anti-PD-(L)1 agents in metastatic cancers

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Author: Tikkanen, Antti1; Iivanainen, Sanna1; Koivunen, Jussi P.1
Organizations: 1Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Oulu University Hospital and MRC Oulu, P.B. 22, 90029, Oulu, Finland
Format: article
Version: published version
Access: open
Online Access: PDF Full Text (PDF, 0.6 MB)
Persistent link: http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi-fe2020091469409
Language: English
Published: Springer Nature, 2020
Publish Date: 2020-09-14
Description:

Abstract

Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are approved in multiple indications for cancer care. Most of the clinical trials have not questioned shorter than until disease progression approaches. In this study, we present results from a cohort of multiple advanced cancers treated with restricted anti-PD-(L)1 therapy.

Methods: All patients with advanced cancers treated with anti-PD-(L)1 therapy outside clinical trials at Oulu University Hospital 2014–19 were retrospectively identified from pharmacy records. Clinical variables, treatment history and survival were collected.

Results: 106 patients with median age of 66 years with lung cancer (n = 45, 42.5%), melanoma (n = 30, 28.3%), renal and bladder cancers (GU cancers) (n = 26, 24.5%), head and neck (H&N) cancer (n = 4, 3.8%), and colorectal cancer (n = 1, 0.9%) were included in the study. The median (m) OS for the whole population was 14 months (CI 9.7–18.3), 9 months (CI 6.3–11.7) for patients with no IO-free period (n = 64, 62.1%), and 27.0 months (CI 20.6–33.4, p = 0.000001) for patients (n = 39) with IO-free period. The mIO-free survival was 10.0 months (CI 7.1–12.9) for the whole cohort, 8.0 months (CI 1.7–14.3) for lung cancer, 23.0 months (CI 2.6–43.4) for melanoma, and 14.0 months (CI 0.0–20.4) for GU cancer. From the IO-free cohort, 19 patients needed re-treatment during follow-up, of which 8 were re-challenged with anti-PD-(L)1 therapy. The clinical benefit rate of anti-PD-(L)1 re-challenge was 37.5%.

Conclusions: Our study shows that long IO-free periods can be achieved with limited duration of anti-PD-(L)1 therapy with excellent survival outcomes, and that anti-PD-(L)1 re-challenge is feasible in clinical practice.

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Series: Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology
ISSN: 0171-5216
ISSN-E: 1432-1335
ISSN-L: 0171-5216
Volume: 146
Issue: 8
Pages: 2153 - 2160
DOI: 10.1007/s00432-020-03217-7
OADOI: https://oadoi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03217-7
Type of Publication: A1 Journal article – refereed
Field of Science: 3122 Cancers
Subjects:
Funding: Open access funding provided by University of Oulu including Oulu University Hospital. This work was supported by Oulu University and Finnish Cancer Institute.
Copyright information: © The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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