Older pts with cancer require special consideration with respect to cancer treatment due to multiple comorbidities and an altered immune status. However, older pts are often under-represented in clinical trials, so information about the use of ICIs in elderly pts is marginal.
We retrospectively identified cancer pts aged over 70 yrs treated with any ICI between 04/2012 and 04/2018. Tumor entities, laboratory parameters, steroid use, adverse events (AE) as well as survival and therapy data were compared.
176 pts were included (120 M, 56 F), the median age was 75 yrs (range 70-89) with 89 pts aged 75 or younger (%) and 87 pts over 75 (%). 38 pts (22%) had ECOG 0, 100 pts (57%) had ECOG 1, 23 pts had ECOG 2-3 (13%), in 15 pts (8%) data was not available. 175 pts (99%) had preexisting medical problems. Assessed by the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale for Geriatrics (CIRS-G), 100 pts (57%) had severe comorbidities in at least one, 43 pts (24%) in at least two organ systems. 76 pts (43%) had no severe comorbidities. 89 pts (51%) had malignant melanoma, 62 (35%) non-small cell lung cancer and 8 (5%) renal-cell carcinoma. 155 pts (93%) were in a metastasized stage. 81 pts (46%) received pembrolizumab, 72 (41%) nivolumab, 35 (20%) ipilimumab, 3 (2%) atezolizumab, 1 (0.6%) durvalumab and azacitidin and 6 pts (3%) were treated with a combination of anti-PD(L)1- and anti-CTLA4-antibodies. 19pts (11%) received various consecutive ICIs. An average immunotherapy consisted of 10.2 doses (range 1-52 doses) and took 6.5 months (range 1 day – 3.9 yrs). 152 pts (86%) had AEs. 59 (34%) had severe AEs (CTCAE grad 3-4) and 63 pts (36%) required systemic corticosteroids due to AEs. We observed common described immune related AEs in 82 pts (47%). Therapy discontinuations due to AEs were in 35 pts (20%), in 23 pts (13%) the ICI was definitely stopped. We note a disease control rate (DCR) of 60% (21pts CR; 60pts PR, 67 pts SD) in the follow-up CT scans. The median survival under ICI was 11.8 months (range 5 days – 4.6 yrs).
Our data encourage that the use of ICI in elderly is beneficial even though AEs are commonly reported and potentially harmful.
Department of Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Freiburg University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.
Has not received any funding.
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.