TY  - JOUR
A1  - Koch, Elias A. T.
A1  - Petzold, Anne
A1  - Wessely, Anja
A1  - Dippel, Edgar
A1  - Gesierich, Anja
A1  - Gutzmer, Ralf
A1  - Hassel, Jessica C.
A1  - Haferkamp, Sebastian
A1  - Kähler, Katharina C.
A1  - Knorr, Harald
A1  - Kreuzberg, Nicole
A1  - Leiter, Ulrike
A1  - Loquai, Carmen
A1  - Meier, Friedegund
A1  - Meissner, Markus
A1  - Mohr, Peter
A1  - Pföhler, Claudia
A1  - Rahimi, Farnaz
A1  - Schadendorf, Dirk
A1  - Schell, Beatrice
A1  - Schlaak, Max
A1  - Terheyden, Patrick
A1  - Thoms, Kai-Martin
A1  - Schuler-Thurner, Beatrice
A1  - Ugurel, Selma
A1  - Ulrich, Jens
A1  - Utikal, Jochen
A1  - Weichenthal, Michael
A1  - Ziller, Fabian
A1  - Berking, Carola
A1  - Heppt, Markus V.
T1  - Immune checkpoint blockade for metastatic uveal melanoma: re-induction following resistance or toxicity
JF  - Cancers
N2  - Re-induction with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) needs to be considered in many patients with uveal melanoma (UM) due to limited systemic treatment options. Here, we provide hitherto the first analysis of ICB re-induction in UM. A total of 177 patients with metastatic UM treated with ICB were included from German skin cancer centers and the German national skin cancer registry (ADOReg). To investigate the impact of ICB re-induction, two cohorts were compared: patients who received at least one ICB re-induction (cohort A, n = 52) versus those who received only one treatment line of ICB (cohort B, n = 125). In cohort A, a transient benefit of overall survival (OS) was observed at 6 and 12 months after the treatment start of ICB. There was no significant difference in OS between both groups (p = 0.1) with a median OS of 16.2 months (cohort A, 95% CI: 11.1–23.8) versus 9.4 months (cohort B, 95% CI: 6.1–14.9). Patients receiving re-induction of ICB (cohort A) had similar response rates compared to those receiving ICB once. Re-induction of ICB may yield a clinical benefit for a small subgroup of patients even after resistance or development of toxicities.
KW  - uveal melanoma
KW  - immune checkpoint blockade
KW  - PD-1
KW  - CTLA-4
KW  - re-induction
KW  - treatment resistance
KW  - toxicity
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-254814
SN  - 2072-6694
VL  - 14
IS  - 3
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wendlinger, Simone
A1  - Wohlfarth, Jonas
A1  - Kreft, Sophia
A1  - Siedel, Claudia
A1  - Kilian, Teresa
A1  - Dischinger, Ulrich
A1  - Heppt, Markus V.
A1  - Wistuba-Hamprecht, Kilian
A1  - Meier, Friedegund
A1  - Goebeler, Matthias
A1  - Schadendorf, Dirk
A1  - Gesierich, Anja
A1  - Kosnopfel, Corinna
A1  - Schilling, Bastian
T1  - Blood eosinophils are associated with efficacy of targeted therapy in patients with advanced melanoma
JF  - Cancers
N2  - Background: Eosinophils appear to contribute to the efficacy of immunotherapy and their frequency was suggested as a predictive biomarker. Whether this observation could be transferred to patients treated with targeted therapy remains unknown. Methods: Blood and serum samples of healthy controls and 216 patients with advanced melanoma were prospectively and retrospectively collected. Freshly isolated eosinophils were phenotypically characterized by flow cytometry and co-cultured in vitro with melanoma cells to assess cytotoxicity. Soluble serum markers and peripheral blood counts were used for correlative studies. Results: Eosinophil-mediated cytotoxicity towards melanoma cells, as well as phenotypic characteristics, were similar when comparing healthy donors and patients. However, high relative pre-treatment eosinophil counts were significantly associated with response to MAPKi (p = 0.013). Eosinophil-mediated cytotoxicity towards melanoma cells is dose-dependent and requires proximity of eosinophils and their target in vitro. Treatment with targeted therapy in the presence of eosinophils results in an additive tumoricidal effect. Additionally, melanoma cells affected eosinophil phenotype upon co-culture. Conclusion: High pre-treatment eosinophil counts in advanced melanoma patients were associated with a significantly improved response to MAPKi. Functionally, eosinophils show potent cytotoxicity towards melanoma cells, which can be reinforced by MAPKi. Further studies are needed to unravel the molecular mechanisms of our observations.
KW  - melanoma
KW  - eosinophils
KW  - biomarker
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-275137
SN  - 2072-6694
VL  - 14
IS  - 9
ER  -