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Soo Park, MD
Soo Park, MD
Posted: Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Although cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma typically responds to immunotherapy, it may not respond as effectively when the tumor emerges from nonexposed skin, such as ulcers. These findings come from a recent abstract presented by Mor Miodovnik, PhD, of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel, and colleagues, as part of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (Abstract e21559).
“This study suggests immunotherapy is less beneficial in ulcer-related cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma,” the authors said. “More work is needed to verify our findings and explore other treatment options including chemoimmunotherapy.”
The investigators reviewed the medical records of 84 eligible patients receiving the immunotherapies cemiplimab-rwlc or pembrolizumab, of whom 9 (11%) had ulcer-related squamous cell skin cancer. Among this population, just 22% achieved a partial response, and none achieved a complete response. In comparison, 53% of patients with non–ulcer-related squamous cell skin cancer achieved a partial response, and 26% achieved a complete response.
Further findings revealed that patients with ulcer-related cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma had a shorter median progression-free survival of 2.1 months compared with those who had non–ulcer-related squamous cell skin cancer, which did not reach median progression-free survival (P < .001). Overall survival was also shorter for patients with ulcer-related cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (17 vs 30 months), although this difference was not reported to be statistically significant (P = .02). Multivariate analysis found ulcer-related squamous cell carcinoma to be a risk factor for shorter progression-free survival (hazard ratio = 7.56; 95% confidence interval = 1.26–40.74; P = .027).
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
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