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Efficacy and safety of anti-PD-1 inhibitor combined with nab-paclitaxel in Chinese patients with refractory melanoma

  • Original Article – Clinical Oncology
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Abstract

Purpose

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the combined effect of anti-PD-1 inhibitor and nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel for refractory melanoma among Chinese patients.

Methods

Data from January 2018 to March 2021 were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Sixty-four patients were eligible for analysis from a single Chinese cancer center.

Results

The median follow-up was 16.0 months at data cutoff. The objective response rate (ORR) was 29.7%, and the disease control rate (DCR) was 67.2% in all patients. Treatment-naïve patients had significantly higher ORR than pretreated patients (42.9% vs 13.8%, p = 0.011). Cutaneous melanoma patients with NRAS gene mutation benefited more than non-mutated patients (DCR of 100% vs. 54.5%) (p = 0.030). The median progression-free survival (mPFS) of all patients was 5.2 months and the duration of response was 10.8 months. Median duration of disease control was 7.7 months. Prior treatment-naïve patients had significantly longer PFS than those who accepted prior treatments (7.2 vs. 5.1 months, p = 0.024). Patients with abnormally high LDH level had shorter mPFS (3.6 months vs. 6.6 months, p = 0.020). Median overall survival was not reached in this study. Most patients experienced adverse events (AEs), but only 17.2% of patients experienced grade 3 severe AEs. The most common AEs were alopecia (89.1%), neutropenia (18.8%), pruritus (15.6%), and arthralgia (14.1%). Some patients had immune related AEs (irAEs). No grade 4 or 5 AEs were observed. Patients with ≥ 3 AEs or with irAEs had longer mPFS (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Nab-paclitaxel combined with PD-1 antibody is a well-tolerated and effective regimen for Chinese patients with refractory melanoma.

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Availability of data and material

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials.

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Abbreviations

AEs:

Adverse events

ALT:

Alanine aminotransferase

AST:

Aspartate aminotransferase

BRAF:

V-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B

CI:

Confidence interval

CR:

Complete response

DCR:

Disease control rate

DDC:

Duration of disease control

ECOG:

Eastern cooperative oncology group

ICIs:

Immune checkpoint inhibitors

LDH:

Lactate dehydrogenase

MDM2:

Murine double minute 2

NRAS:

Neuroblastoma rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog

ORR:

Objective response rate

OS:

Overall survival

PD-1:

Programmed cell death protein 1

PD-L1:

Programmed death-ligand 1

PFS:

Progression-free survival

RECIST:

Response evaluation criteria

PR:

Partial response

SD:

Stable disease

TMB:

Tumor mutation burden

ULN:

Upper limits of normal

References

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Acknowledgements

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Funding

This study was funded by the Foundation of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center for Distinguished Young Scholar (grant number: PT04180201), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 81802725) and Foundation of Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (grant number: Y-SY201901-0247).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

X-sZ: study design and concepts. J-jL, J-hW, YD, D-dL, X-zW, J-jZ, HJ, XL, F-xH: data acquisition. J-jL, J-hW, YD: quality control of data, algorithms, data analysis, and interpretation. J-jL, J-hW: statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, and manuscript editing. J-jL, J-hW and YD contribute equally to this article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiao-shi Zhang.

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Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Written informed consent for publication was obtained from all authors and participants in this study.

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Li, Jj., Wang, Jh., Dingv, Y. et al. Efficacy and safety of anti-PD-1 inhibitor combined with nab-paclitaxel in Chinese patients with refractory melanoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 148, 1159–1169 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-021-03700-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-021-03700-9

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