ArticleJournal for immunotherapy of cancer2024
Durability of response to immune checkpoint blockade following treatment discontinuation and efficacy of rechallenge in advanced Merkel cell carcinoma.
Article in Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- First-line ipilimumab plus nivolumab in advanced merkel cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis of prospective trials and real-world validation cohort.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2026Pooled it
- Advancing immune checkpoint inhibitor rechallenge: key insights into efficacy, safety, and personalized strategies in advanced solid tumors.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Neoadjuvant lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab in Merkel cell carcinoma: an investigator-initiated, open-label phase II trial.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Trial
- Perspectives on 10 years of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Podcast.Targeted oncology · 2026Article
- Article
- Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Complete Response to Avelumab Immunotherapy.Clinical case reports · 2026Article
- Non-canonical and induced neoantigens as emerging sources of cancer-specific immunotherapy targets.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Long-term immune checkpoint inhibition therapy for advanced stage Merkel cell carcinoma.JAAD case reports · 2026Article
- Microbiome meets immunotherapy: unlocking the hidden predictors of immune checkpoint inhibitors.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Risk of disease progression after discontinuing immunotherapy in 105 patients with Merkel cell carcinoma who responded to PD-1 pathway blockade.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2025Article
- Review
- Understanding Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Pathogenic Signaling, Extracellular Matrix Dynamics, and Novel Treatment Approaches.Cancers · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAdvanced Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) has a high response rate to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy, but the durability of responses once treatment is discontinued remains unclear. We therefore reviewed the long-term outcomes of advanced patients with MCC who discontinued ICB treatment after achieving favorable initial response.
methodsWe performed a retrospective review of advanced patients with MCC treated at a single high-volume referral center, including all patients who received at least one dose of anti-programmed death receptor 1 (ligand) monotherapy for unresectable or metastatic disease, achieved stable disease (SD) or better, and discontinued treatment for a reason other than disease progression.
resultsOf 195 advanced patients with MCC treated with ICB, we identified 45 who met the study criteria. Of these, 21 (46.6%) had a complete response (CR) to initial ICB treatment, 23 (51.1%) a partial response and 1 (2.2%) SD. 25 (55.6%) patients discontinued ICB electively and 20 (44.4%) discontinued due to toxicity. In total, 21 of the 45 patients (46.6%) experienced disease progression at a median of 11.3 months (range 2.1-22.7 months) from ICB cessation. There was a lower rate of progression in patients who achieved CR versus non-CR (23.8% vs 66.7%, p=0.006) and a trend towards a lower rate in those who discontinued electively versus due to toxicity (36.0% vs 60.0%, p=0.14). There was a higher risk for progression in patients with viral positive MCC compared with viral negative MCC (75.0 vs 30.8%, p=0.02). 16 of the 21 patients who experienced progression were retreated subsequently with ICB therapy, including both single-agent rechallenge (12) and escalation to combination ICB (4). 11 of 15 evaluable ICB-retreated patients (73.3%) achieved an objective response.
conclusionsPatients with advanced MCC have a substantial risk of disease progression following treatment discontinuation despite initial favorable ICB response, particularly in those that achieve less than a CR. Most of these patients maintain sensitivity to retreatment with the same drug class. Virus-positive MCC may be a risk factor for post-discontinuation relapse, which should be validated in future studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.