Ronnie Shapira-Frommer, MD, on Results From the KEYNOTE-158 Trial in Patients With Vulvar Squamous Cell Carcinoma

CancerNetwork® sat down with Ronnie Shapira-Frommer, MD, to discuss the antitumor activity of pembrolizumab monotherapy in a cohort of patients with previously treated vulvar squamous cell carcinoma from the phase 2 KEYNOTE-158 trial (NCT02628067).

In a presentation at the Society of Gynecological Oncology (SGO) 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, Shapira-Frommer presented data showing objective responses were achievable in this patient subgroup with the PD-1 inhibitor.

Transcription:

One hundred and one patients [with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma] were treated on the study and 11% responded to the treatment (10.9%); 1 had a complete response and 10 had partial responses. Among these responding patients, median duration of response was 20 months. Indeed, [there was a] low percentage of response, but [there were] significant and meaningful responses for some of these patients.

Interestingly, response was irrespective of PD-L1 expression, unlike in cervical cancer, so patients could respond whether they had a PD-L1–positive tumor [or] PD-L1–negative expression. As we could see, some of the responses were very durable and therefore meaningful.

References

Frommer RS, Mileshkin L, Manzyuk L, et al. Pembrolizumab for Vulvar Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Results From the Phase 2 KEYNOTE-158 Study. Abstract presented at: Society of Gynecological Oncology 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer; March 19-21, 2021; Virtual. Abstract 11603.