Gambichler T, et al. - This investigation was formulated in order to inspect the biomarkers for speculating the therapeutic outcome in melanoma patients who underwent standard ipilimumab therapy in a real-world setting. The independent predictor for improved progression-free survival (PFS) was discovered to be the low serum LDH before ipilimumab therapy. Low serum S100B also served as an independent predictor of melanoma-specific survival (MSS). A prominent correlation was unveiled between the number of ipilimumab cycles (> 2) with prolonged PFS. The occurrence of autoimmune colitis under ipilimumab therapy was not speculated by pre-treatment calprotectin.

Methods

• Studies comprising of cutaneous melanoma patients (n = 52) who had received ipilimumab were selected.
• Data was extracted with regard to the patient characteristics and diverse lab parameters.
• Univariate and multivariate statistics, with the inclusion of logistic regression analysis and Cox proportional-hazards regression were performed.

Results

• Baseline leukocytes, lymphocytes, eosinophils, thrombocytes, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, thrombocytes/lymphocyte ratio, eosinophil/lymphocyte ratio, and serum vitamin D levels did not exhibit any sunstantial connection with ORR, progression-free survival (PFS) and melanoma-specific survival (MSS).
• Multivariate analysis affirmed that anti PD-1 pre-treatment served as a vital predictor for ORR following ipilimumab therapy.
• Low LDH levels and more than 2 ipilimumab cycles appeared as prominent independent predictors for prolonged PFS.
• Low S100B levels and anti-PD-1 treatment before or after ipilimumab were discovered to be marked independent predictors for improved MSS.
• All of the above indicated parameters and fecal calprotectin did not display to be predictors for ipilimumab-induced autoimmune-related adverse events and autoimmune colitis, respectively.