Successful Treatment with Nivolumab in a Patient with Metastatic Salivary Duct Carcinoma

Tsuyoshi Sato; Takahiro Maeta; Ryosuke Abe; Hiroyuki Yamada; Kazuyuki Ishida; Akiko Yashima-Abo; Kazuki Kiyohara; Shinri Miyajima; Shigeki Ito

doi:10.1159/000512060

Successful Treatment with Nivolumab in a Patient with Metastatic Salivary Duct Carcinoma

Case Rep Oncol. 2021 Mar 8;14(1):343-346. doi: 10.1159/000512060. eCollection 2021 Jan-Apr.

Authors

Tsuyoshi Sato¹, Takahiro Maeta¹, Ryosuke Abe^{2

3}, Hiroyuki Yamada², Kazuyuki Ishida⁴, Akiko Yashima-Abo⁵, Kazuki Kiyohara¹, Shinri Miyajima¹, Shigeki Ito¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Hematology & Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Iwate Medical University, Yahaba, Japan.
² Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Reconstructive Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Iwate Medical University, Yahaba, Japan.
³ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Iwate Prefectural Central Hospital, Morioka, Japan.
⁴ Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Dokkyo Medical University, Mibu, Japan.
⁵ Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Iwate Medical University, Yahaba, Japan.

Abstract

Salivary duct carcinoma (SDC) is a rare and highly aggressive malignancy. A 58-year-old man presented with a right-sided submandibular mass and metastatic lesions in the right supraclavicular and inferior internal jugular nodes. He underwent right submandibulectomy and right neck dissection followed by adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. However, relapse occurred in the hilar lymph node and lumbar spine. Although radiotherapy was performed, a second relapse appeared in the hilar lymph nodes and sacral bone. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed negativity for programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) in the primary tumor specimen. The patient then received the anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) antibody nivolumab. His metastatic lesions were completely eliminated after 48 weeks of therapy. This case reveals that anti-PD-1 antibodies are effective even against PD-L1-negative SDC.

Keywords: Nivolumab; PD-1; Salivary duct carcinoma.

Publication types

Case Reports