Purpose of the review: The reintroduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) after disease progression (rechallenge) or immune-related adverse events (irAEs) recovering (resumption) raises questions in terms of efficacy and safety.
Recent findings: Here, we reviewed literature data about ICIs rechallenge/resumption in cancer patients along with their clinical characteristics to explore those factors associated with better outcomes. Heterogenous results were pointed out across rechallenge studies with an overall response rate between 0 and 54%, and a progression free survival ranged from 1.5 to 12.9 months and an overall survival between 6.5 and 23.8 months. Better outcomes have been recorded in patients with good ECOG PS, longer duration of initial ICI, discontinuation reason of initial ICI other than progression, and those who received ICI sequence other than the switch between anti-PD1 and anti-PDL1. Studies about ICI resumption highlighted that certain types of irAEs were more likely to relapse at retreatment. These results suggest that ICI rechallenge/resumption can be an interesting strategy for selected patients.
Keywords: Cancer; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Rechallenge; Retreatment; Review.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.