Efficacy and Safety of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Patients with Microsatellite Instability-High End-Stage Cancers and Poor Performance Status Related to High Disease Burden.

CONCLUSION: In a high proportion of patients with MSI-high cancers and poor performance status related to end-stage disease, salvage immunotherapy can induce potentially long-lasting "Lazarus responses." Immunotherapy decisions near the end-of-life should be carefully integrated with predictive biomarkers and with palliative care measures in the real-world setting.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: In this retrospective cohort study of 27 pretreated patients with microsatellite instability (MSI)-high cancers and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2 or 3 not related to comorbidities, PD-1/PD-L1-based therapy induced a RECIST response in 33% of patients, with a median duration of 16.9 months, and an improvement of performance status in 52% of patients. MSI-high status can be used in the clinical practice as a tumor-agnostic predictive biomarker to select critically ill patients with end-stage cancers for salvage immunotherapy.
PMID: 32369650 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: The Oncologist - May 4, 2020 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Pietrantonio F, Loupakis F, Randon G, Raimondi A, Salati M, Trapani D, Pagani F, Depetris I, Maddalena G, Morano F, Corallo S, Prisciandaro M, Corti F, Guarini V, Bocconi A, Marra A, Belli C, Spallanzani A, Fassan M, Lonardi S, Curigliano G, Fucà G, Di B Tags: Oncologist Source Type: research