Published in

American Association for Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, 21(27), p. 5993-6000, 2021

DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-21-1283

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Early Use of High-Dose Glucocorticoid for the Management of irAE Is Associated with Poorer Survival in Patients with Advanced Melanoma Treated with Anti–PD-1 Monotherapy

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: Programmed cell death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitors are frontline therapy in advanced melanoma. Severe immune-related adverse effects (irAEs) often require immunosuppressive treatment with glucocorticoids (GCCs), but GCC use and its correlation with patient survival outcomes during anti–PD-1 monotherapy remains unclear. Experimental Design: In this multicenter retrospective analysis, patients treated with anti–PD-1 monotherapy between 2009 and 2019 and detailed GCC use, data were identified from five independent cohorts, with median follow-up time of 206 weeks. IrAEs were tracked from the initiation of anti–PD-1 until disease progression, initiation of a new therapy, or last follow-up. Correlations between irAEs, GCC use, and survival outcomes were analyzed. Results: Of the entire cohort of 947 patients, 509 (54%) developed irAEs. In the MGH cohort [irAE(+) n = 90], early-onset irAE (within 8 weeks of anti–PD-1 initiation) with high-dose GCC use (≥60-mg prednisone equivalent once a day) was independently associated with poorer post-irAE PFS/OS (progression-free survival/overall survival) [post-irAE PFS: HR, 5.37; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.10–13.70; P < 0.001; post-irAE OS: HR, 5.95; 95% CI, 2.20–16.09; P < 0.001] compared with irAEs without early high-dose GCC use. These findings were validated in the combined validation cohort [irAE(+) n = 419, post-irAE PFS: HR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.04–2.76; P = 0.04; post-irAE OS: HR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.15–3.39; P = 0.01]. Similar findings were also observed in the 26-week landmark analysis for post–irAE-PFS but not for post–irAE-OS. A sensitivity analysis using accumulated GCC exposure as the measurement achieved similar results. Conclusions: Early high-dose GCC use was associated with poorer PFS and OS after irAE onset. Judicious use of GCC early during anti–PD-1 monotherapy should be considered. Further prospective randomized control clinical trials designed to explore alternative irAE management options are warranted.