Pembrolizumab leads to higher toxicity risk in obese melanoma patients

A retrospective study found a significant association between BMI and treatment toxicity in patients with advanced melanoma treated with pembrolizumab. Neither survival nor toxicity were linked to sarcopenia [1]. Pembrolizumab, a monoclonal antibody against programmed cell death-1, is currently used as first-line therapy for patients with advanced melanoma. Because both cachexia and obesity can affect treatment response to immunotherapy for cancer patients, this retrospective study aimed to assess whether characteristics like obesity, sarcopenia, and other baseline characteristics may impact therapy success or appearance of toxicity. Data was collected from patients with advanced melanoma receiving pembrolizumab treatment between January 2014 and September 2018 at Duke University (USA). No association for sarcopenia was found (P=0.88), but patients with higher levels of albumin were identified to have better chances for disease control. The likeliho...

Please login to read the full text of the article.

If you have no account yet, please register now.

Posted on 6 August, 20205 January, 2021