In a second, retrospective study of 83 patients enrolled in clinical trials of pembrolizumab for melanoma, non–small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, and Merkel cell carcinoma, patients in each of three pembrolizumab dosing groups who developed cutaneous AEs had significantly longer progression-free intervals than patients who did not develop cutaneous AEs.
A similar correlation between cutaneous events with nivolumab and favorable outcomes was seen in a study of pooled data on 148 patients with resected or unresectable metastatic melanoma. The investigators found that both rash and vitiligo correlated significantly with better overall survival.