Risk of disease progression after discontinuing immunotherapy in 105 patients with Merkel cell carcinoma who...

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are the preferred systemic therapy for most patients with advanced Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). However, the optimal duration of treatment for patients responding to ICI is unclear. Emerging data from retrospective analyses indicate a higher risk of MCC progression after ICI discontinuation, as compared with continuing ICI.

We performed a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the rate of progressive disease (PD) after treatment discontinuation in patients with advanced MCC who experienced objective responses to first-line ICI. We evaluated whether the risk of PD was associated with the reason for treatment discontinuation (elective vs due to toxicity) and depth of response (complete vs partial response (CR vs PR)).

Among 105 responders, 58 discontinued ICI (median treatment duration: 12 months), and 47 continued ICI (median treatment duration: 20 months) at data cut-off. With a median follow-up of 34 months from ICI initiation, 33% of the entire cohort experienced disease progression at 2 years. 2 years after ICI initiation, 39% of patients who discontinued ICI had disease progression, compared with 14% of patients who continued ICI (HR=2.34 (95% CI: 1.07 to 5.12), p=0.034). Among patients who discontinued ICI, those with PR had a numerically higher rate of progression compared with patients with CR at 2 years after ICI discontinuation (56% vs 29%, respectively; HR=1.74 (95% CI: 0.72 to 4.20), p=0.22). Patients who discontinued due to toxicity had numerically higher rates of progression at 2 years (N=28) compared with patients who discontinued electively (N=30) (45% vs 31%, respectively; HR=2.08 (95% CI: 0.79 to 5.46), p=0.14). Among responders who stayed on ICI and had not progressed by 1 year, those who electively discontinued ICI had a high chance of remaining progression-free at 2 years (89%), similar to those who continued ICI (96%, p=0.59).

This study highlights the high progression risk following ICI discontinuation in advanced MCC, especially among patients with non-CRs or those discontinuing early. While elective discontinuation may be appropriate after durable CRs (response≥1 year), greater caution is warranted in other settings.