Some Melanoma Respond to Immunotherapy Beyond Progression

Source: Cancer Network, January 2018

Some patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma who receive immunotherapy and continue therapy after progression have decreased tumor burden, and survival is improved when the therapy is continued as well, according to a new pooled analysis.
Since the approval of immune therapies for melanoma, concerns have been raised regarding the adequacy of standard RECIST criteria to identify responses and progression. “Patients who receive immunotherapy might develop an atypical response pattern, wherein they initially meet conventional response criteria for progressive disease but later have decreases in tumor burden,” wrote study authors led by Julia A. Beaver, MD, of the US Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring, Maryland.
To assess the clinical benefit in patients who continue immunotherapy beyond traditionally defined progression, the investigators conducted a pooled analysis of eight multicenter clinical trials totaling 2,624 patients. All patients had unresectable or metastatic melanoma, and all included trials allowed for continuation of the anti–PD-1 antibody beyond RECIST-defined progression. The studies included three KEYNOTE trials (P001, P002, and P006) and five CheckMate trials (0035, 037, 066, 067, 069); the results were published online ahead of print in Lancet Oncology.