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Soo Park, MD
Soo Park, MD
Posted: Monday, February 24, 2025
Antibiotic use around the time of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy in patients with advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was found to be associated with negative treatment outcomes, according to the results of a single-center retrospective study published in the European Journal of Cancer. According to Anne Pham-Ledard, MD, of the Department of Dermatology CHU Bordeaux, France, and colleagues, the period of 1 month before or after immunotherapy was started was “the most deleterious.”
The study focused on patients who started anti–PD-1 for cutaneous SCC between March 2019 and July 2023. Exposure to antibiotics within 3 months prior and after the onset of ICI (ATB 3-3 subgroup) as well as within 1 month prior and after the onset of ICI (ATB 1-1 subgroup) was recorded. Nearly half (45%) of 104 patients received antibiotics within 3 months before or after starting ICI therapy, with 20% exposed within a 1-month window.
Patients in both the ATB 1-1 and ATB 3-3 subgroups exhibited lower disease control rates at 3 months than did those without exposure to antibiotics. Overall survival and disease-specific survival were significantly lower in the ATB 1-1 group (P = .04 and P = .01, respectively). Additionally, median progression-free survival was 127 days for ATB 1-1 patients, compared with an unreached threshold for nonexposed patients (P = .005).
“In our cohort, ATB use within 1 month before or after ICI initiation significantly impacted survival, highlighting the need for caution when prescribing antibiotics in this population,” noted the investigators. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm these observations and guide optimized treatment approaches, they noted.
Disclosure: For full disclosures for the study authors, visit sciencedirect.com.
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