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.
Code availability
Not applicable.
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
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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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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.
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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