Adjuvant therapy with low-dose interferon-beta for stage II and III melanoma: results of a retrospective analysis

Antitumor activity of pegylated human interferon β as monotherapy or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors via tumor growth inhibition and dendritic cell activation

Type I interferons (IFN), especially human IFN alpha (IFNα), have been utilized for antitumor therapy for decades. Human interferon beta (IFNβ) is rarely used for cancer treatment, despite advantages over IFNα in biological activities such as tumor growth inhibition and dendritic cell (DC) activation. The utilization of pegylated human IFNβ (PEG-IFNβ), as monotherapy or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) was evaluated in this study through in vivo efficacy studies in syngeneic mouse melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) models resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). In vitro comparative study of PEG-IFNβ and pegylated IFNα-2b was performed in terms of tumor growth inhibition against human melanoma, NSCLC and COAD cell lines and activation of human monocyte-derived DCs (MoDCs). Our data demonstrate that the in vivo antitumor effects of PEG-IFNβ are partially attributable to tumor growth-inhibitory effects and DC-activating activities, superior to pegylated IFNα-2b. Our findings suggest that utilizing PEG-IFNβ as an antitumor therapy can enhance the therapeutic effect of ICIs in ICI-resistant tumors by directly inhibiting tumor growth and induction of DC maturation.

Adjuvant nivolumab therapy may not improve disease-free survival in resected acral lentiginous melanoma patients: a retrospective case series

BACKGROUND

Adjuvant nivolumab therapy has been reported to improve the survival of melanoma patients. Acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) has been reported to be less likely to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) than other subtypes. However, the efficacy of adjuvant nivolumab therapy for ALM patients remains uncertain due to the low number of cases.

METHODS

In this single-center retrospective case series, we analyzed the clinical data of patients with resected stage III/IV ALM who were referred to our department between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2022. The analyzed clinical data included age, sex, TNM stage, treatments, adverse events and disease-free survival (DFS). Enrolled patients were divided into a nivolumab group and a non-ICI group according to the adjuvant therapy they received.

RESULTS

In total, 27 patients were included. The nivolumab and non-ICI groups had 5 and 22 patients, respectively. There were no significant differences in patient characteristics between the two groups. There were no serious treatment-related adverse events in the non-ICI group, but one patient in the nivolumab group developed type 1 diabetes. In the survival analysis, the DFS for the nivolumab group did not exceed that of the non-ICI group in postoperative adjuvant therapy for ALM patients.

CONCLUSION

Given that adjuvant nivolumab therapy sometimes results in serious adverse effects, the administration of the therapy may need to be carefully considered, especially for ALM patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.