While high-dose bolus inpatient interleukin-2 is generally given on 8-week cycles, continuous infusion interleukin-2 could potentially allow for more rapidly repeated cycles. Fourteen (14) patients with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) of 0 or 1, having either kidney cancer (6) or melanoma (8), have been treated with continuous infusion (CIV) interleukin-2 (IL-2) 18 MIU/m(2)/24 hours for 72 hours. Cycles were repeated every 3 weeks up to 4 cycles, then every 3-4 weeks for 2 cycles, then every 6-8 weeks, until progression or intolerable toxicity. All patients received famotidine 20 mg intravenously (i.v.) twice per day during the 72-hour infusions. Patient characteristics included a median ECOG performance status of 1; median age = 63 (range: 25-79); most common metastatic sites: lung (9), bone (5), lymph nodes (5), and the liver (3). No patients with metastatic kidney cancer underwent a nephrectomy prior to interleukin-2. Median number of cycles received = 5 (1-9). No patients required Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission. There have been no treatment-related deaths. Most common toxicities have been rigors, fever, nausea/emesis, and the reversible elevation of creatinine. One complete response and three partial responses (67% response rate; 95% confidence interval: 30%-90%) have been seen in kidney cancer, and two partial responses (25% response rate; 95% confidence interval: 7%-60%) have occurred in melanoma. Median survival has not been reached at >9+ months. Responding sites include the liver, bone, lung, lymph node and subcutaneous sites. Inpatient 72-hour continuous infusion interleukin-2 at this dose and schedule is well tolerated by patients with an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1 and has activity in kidney cancer and melanoma.
Eccrine porocarcinoma (EPC) is a rare malignancy of the sweat glands. Currently, there is no standard algorithm for its presentations, diagnosis, and management. However, immunotherapy is an emerging option that may be crucial to the treatment of EPC. This report presents a case of a 79-year-old male who had a skin biopsy of an anterior scalp lesion, which revealed EPC. The patient underwent Mohs micrographic surgery to excise the tumor followed by two additional Mohs surgeries for recurrence and adjuvant radiotherapy. A follow-up positron emission tomography (PET) scan revealed yet another recurrence at the scalp as well as metastases to the left parotid gland and left submandibular lymph node. The patient was started on immunotherapy with pembrolizumab, a programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor, and later achieved remission. This report demonstrates the effective management of EPC using immunotherapy with pembrolizumab.
While high-dose bolus inpatient interleukin-2 is generally given on 8-week cycles, continuous infusion interleukin-2 could potentially allow for more rapidly repeated cycles. Fourteen (14) patients with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) of 0 or 1, having either kidney cancer (6) or melanoma (8), have been treated with continuous infusion (CIV) interleukin-2 (IL-2) 18 MIU/m(2)/24 hours for 72 hours. Cycles were repeated every 3 weeks up to 4 cycles, then every 3-4 weeks for 2 cycles, then every 6-8 weeks, until progression or intolerable toxicity. All patients received famotidine 20 mg intravenously (i.v.) twice per day during the 72-hour infusions. Patient characteristics included a median ECOG performance status of 1; median age = 63 (range: 25-79); most common metastatic sites: lung (9), bone (5), lymph nodes (5), and the liver (3). No patients with metastatic kidney cancer underwent a nephrectomy prior to interleukin-2. Median number of cycles received = 5 (1-9). No patients required Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission. There have been no treatment-related deaths. Most common toxicities have been rigors, fever, nausea/emesis, and the reversible elevation of creatinine. One complete response and three partial responses (67% response rate; 95% confidence interval: 30%-90%) have been seen in kidney cancer, and two partial responses (25% response rate; 95% confidence interval: 7%-60%) have occurred in melanoma. Median survival has not been reached at >9+ months. Responding sites include the liver, bone, lung, lymph node and subcutaneous sites. Inpatient 72-hour continuous infusion interleukin-2 at this dose and schedule is well tolerated by patients with an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1 and has activity in kidney cancer and melanoma.
High-dose bolus or continuous infusion interleukin-2-based therapy can cause capillary leak syndrome. Significant cardiovascular/hemodynamic events, including myocardial infarction, hypotension, pulmonary edema, and cardiac arrhythmia, have been described with such therapy. Concern over the toxicity of highdose interleukin-2 (IL-2) therapy has led to some clinicians excluding patients 70 years of age or over. We have treated 15 patients 70 years of age or over having an Eastern Conference Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1, with therapy based on continuous infusion IL-2 18 MIU/sq m/24 hours for 72 hours. All patients underwent a pretreatment evaluation of cardiac status with a low-level stress or adenosine stress test. Cycles were typically repeated every 3 weeks for 4 cycles, then every 3-4 weeks thereafter. Patients were treated by oncology nurses in either the stem cell transplant (intermediate unit) or the oncology inpatient unit. Patient characteristics were: median age, 72 years (range, 70-83 years); tumor types: melanoma (10), kidney cancer (5); most common sites of disease: lung (11), lymph nodes (6), subcutaneous (3), liver (2); prior therapy included: none (8), outpatient IL-2 (5), other immunotherapy (4). Median number of cycles received: 3 (1-10). Most common toxicities were: fever, rigors, nausea, emesis, hypophosphatemia, and hypomagnesemia. Three patients required the use of dopamine for blood pressure support. Two patients declined further therapy. There were no treatment-related deaths. No patients required endotracheal intubation or transfer to an intensive care unit. One complete and 8 partial responses (60% response rate) have been seen. Responding sites include the lung, lymph node, intact kidney primary, and liver. Median survival has not been reached at over 14 months (range 3+-26+ months). Patients who are 70 years of age and older with an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1 are able to tolerate high-dose continuous infusion IL-2-based therapy and may respond to such treatment.
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