TY - JOUR
T1 - Prognostic and predictive value of AJCC-8 staging in the phase III EORTC1325/KEYNOTE-054 trial of pembrolizumab vs placebo in resected high-risk stage III melanoma
AU - Eggermont, Alexander M.M.
AU - Blank, Christian U.
AU - Mandala, Mario
AU - Long, Georgina V.
AU - Atkinson, Victoria G.
AU - Dalle, Stéphane
AU - Haydon, Andrew
AU - Lichinitser, Mikhail
AU - Khattak, Adnan
AU - Carlino, Matteo S.
AU - Sandhu, Shahneen
AU - Larkin, James
AU - Puig, Susana
AU - Ascierto, Paolo A.
AU - Rutkowski, Piotr
AU - Schadendorf, Dirk
AU - Koornstra, Rutger
AU - Hernandez-Aya, Leonel
AU - Di Giacomo, Anna Maria
AU - van den Eertwegh, Alfonsus JM
AU - Grob, Jean Jacques
AU - Gutzmer, Ralf
AU - Jamal, Rahima
AU - Lorigan, Paul C.
AU - Lupinacci, Robert
AU - Krepler, Clemens
AU - Ibrahim, Nageatte
AU - Kicinski, Michal
AU - Marreaud, Sandrine
AU - van Akkooi, Alexander C.
AU - Suciu, Stefan
AU - Robert, Caroline
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/7
Y1 - 2019/7
N2 - Background: The American Joint Committee on Cancer-8 (AJCC) classification of melanoma was implemented in January 2018. It was based on data gathered when checkpoint inhibitors were not used as adjuvant therapy in stage III melanoma. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 1325/KEYNOTE-054 double-blind phase III trial evaluated pembrolizumab vs placebo in AJCC-7 stage IIIA (excluding lymph node metastasis ≤1 mm), IIIB or IIIC (without in-transit metastasis) patients after complete lymphadenectomy. Patients, methods and results: Patients (n = 1019) were randomised 1:1 to pembrolizumab 200 mg or placebo every 3 weeks (total of 18 doses, ∼1 year). At 1.25-year median follow-up, pembrolizumab prolonged relapse-free survival (RFS) in the total population (1-year RFS rate: 75.4% vs 61.0%; hazard ratio [HR] 0.57; logrank P < 0.0001) and consistently in the AJCC-7 subgroups. Prognostic and predictive values of AJCC-8 for RFS were evaluated in this study. Patient distribution according to the AJCC-8 stage subgroups was 8% (IIIA), 34.7% (IIIB), 49.7% (IIIC), 3.7% (IIID) and 3.8% (unknown). AJCC-8 classification was strongly associated with RFS (HRs for stage IIIB, IIIC and IIID vs IIIA were 4.0, 5.7 and 12.2, respectively) but showed no predictive importance for the treatment comparison regarding RFS (test for interaction: P = 0.68). The 1-year RFS rate for pembrolizumab vs placebo and the HRs (99% confidence interval) within each AJCC-8 subgroup were as follows: stage IIIA (92.7% vs 92.5%; 0.76 [0.11–5.43]), IIIB (79.0% vs 65.5%; 0.59 [0.35–0.99]), IIIC (73.6% vs 53.9%; 0.48 [0.33–0.70]) and IIID (50.0% vs 33.3%; 0.69 [0.24–2.00]). Conclusions: AJCC-8 staging had a strong prognostic importance for RFS but no predictive importance: the RFS benefit of pembrolizumab was observed across AJCC-8 subgroups in resected high-risk stage III melanoma patients.
AB - Background: The American Joint Committee on Cancer-8 (AJCC) classification of melanoma was implemented in January 2018. It was based on data gathered when checkpoint inhibitors were not used as adjuvant therapy in stage III melanoma. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 1325/KEYNOTE-054 double-blind phase III trial evaluated pembrolizumab vs placebo in AJCC-7 stage IIIA (excluding lymph node metastasis ≤1 mm), IIIB or IIIC (without in-transit metastasis) patients after complete lymphadenectomy. Patients, methods and results: Patients (n = 1019) were randomised 1:1 to pembrolizumab 200 mg or placebo every 3 weeks (total of 18 doses, ∼1 year). At 1.25-year median follow-up, pembrolizumab prolonged relapse-free survival (RFS) in the total population (1-year RFS rate: 75.4% vs 61.0%; hazard ratio [HR] 0.57; logrank P < 0.0001) and consistently in the AJCC-7 subgroups. Prognostic and predictive values of AJCC-8 for RFS were evaluated in this study. Patient distribution according to the AJCC-8 stage subgroups was 8% (IIIA), 34.7% (IIIB), 49.7% (IIIC), 3.7% (IIID) and 3.8% (unknown). AJCC-8 classification was strongly associated with RFS (HRs for stage IIIB, IIIC and IIID vs IIIA were 4.0, 5.7 and 12.2, respectively) but showed no predictive importance for the treatment comparison regarding RFS (test for interaction: P = 0.68). The 1-year RFS rate for pembrolizumab vs placebo and the HRs (99% confidence interval) within each AJCC-8 subgroup were as follows: stage IIIA (92.7% vs 92.5%; 0.76 [0.11–5.43]), IIIB (79.0% vs 65.5%; 0.59 [0.35–0.99]), IIIC (73.6% vs 53.9%; 0.48 [0.33–0.70]) and IIID (50.0% vs 33.3%; 0.69 [0.24–2.00]). Conclusions: AJCC-8 staging had a strong prognostic importance for RFS but no predictive importance: the RFS benefit of pembrolizumab was observed across AJCC-8 subgroups in resected high-risk stage III melanoma patients.
KW - Adjuvant therapy
KW - AJCC-7
KW - AJCC-8
KW - EORTC 1325/KN-054
KW - Melanoma
KW - Pembrolizumab
KW - Phase III trial
KW - Predictive factors
KW - Prognostic factors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067063279&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ejca.2019.05.020
DO - 10.1016/j.ejca.2019.05.020
M3 - Article
C2 - 31200321
AN - SCOPUS:85067063279
SN - 0959-8049
VL - 116
SP - 148
EP - 157
JO - European Journal of Cancer
JF - European Journal of Cancer
ER -