Real-world outcomes of patients receiving salvage therapies for immune checkpoint inhibitor-resistant Merkel cell carcinoma: a rationale for future clinical trials.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Merkel cell carcinoma is an aggressive skin cancer that progresses to advanced/metastatic disease in~40% of patients. First-line immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) that block the programmed cell death protein-1/programmed death-ligand 1 axis provide 3-year progression-free responses in only~40% of patients. The relative efficacy of salvage therapies in this setting is unclear.

Methods

In a prospectively enrolled single-center cohort, 106 patients had disease progression during or shortly after ICI and received at least one local or systemic salvage therapy. Baseline disease characteristics, treatments, and outcomes data were collected. Patients were stratified by primary resistance (no response to initial ICI) or acquired resistance (loss of ICI response after ini

SUBMITTER: Ch'en PY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12458792 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature