Anti-PD1 therapy (pembrolizumab and nivolumab) is one of the treatment options for metastatic melanoma. According to literature there are predictors such as the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, the level of which at the time of initiation of the therapy indicates well the probability of biological therapy effectiveness.
In our study stage IV melanoma patients treated with biological therapy were followed from the beginning of therapy to the week 12 at the Department of Dermatology of the University of Debrecen. We analysed the correlations between laboratory values and the likelihood that the outcome of the disease will be determined by a laboratory parameter at the time of the beginning of biological therapy or later on. Furthermore, to determine the influencing factor of the progressive disease outcome.
Totally 62 stage IV melanoma patients treated with biological therapy were followed from the beginning of therapy to the 12. week. Based on the radiological imaging methods on the twelfth week the outcome of disease was divided into three categories: progressive disease, stable disease and partial or complete response. The investigated biomarkers were S100B, LDH and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio. Repeated measures variance analysis were performed, which was supplemented with a Newman-Keuls post hoc test, furthermore, correlation, ROC analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used.
The results showed that none of the biomarkers can be used to determine the outcome of the therapy at the beginning.
According to our results, based on the baseline laboratory parameters, we can not predict the outcome of the treatment, so we can not rely solely on laboratory values in deciding whether or not biological therapy should be started.

Change of laboratory parameters during anti-PD1 treatment in patients with melanoma