Immunotherapy proves active against MF, SS

Four patients with stable disease are still on treatment. And at 20 weeks, 75% of patients are progression-free, according to Kaplan-Meier estimates.

Adverse events

Drug-related adverse events occurring at least twice included skin eruptions (21%, n=5), anemia (13%, n=3), decrease in white blood cell count (8%, n=2), elevated liver tests (8%, n=2), diarrhea (8%, n=2), fever (8%, n=2), and face edema (8%, n=2).

Grade 3/4 adverse events included skin eruptions (8%, n=2), anemia (8%, n=2), elevated liver tests (4%, n=1), and face edema (4%, n=1). Skin eruptions (of all grades) included exfoliative dermatitis (n=2), immune-mediated skin flare (n=2), and excessive peeling/edema (n=1).

There were no drug-related serious adverse events. The cause of the aforementioned serious adverse event (which prompted the responding patient to discontinue treatment) could not be determined.

There were 4 patients who did not report any adverse events, regardless of attribution.

In closing, Dr Kim said it is important to conduct biomarker correlative studies to understand the tumor escape mechanisms and enrich the response population.

She and her colleagues at CITN are now exploring the use of pembrolizumab in combination therapy. They are considering combining the drug with interferon-gamma, interleukin-12, low-dose total skin radiation, intratumoral ipilimumab, or Toll-like receptor agonists.