Immunotherapy doesn’t need to be delayed due to antibiotic use in metastatic melanoma

Antibiotic use before immunotherapy does not lead to worse outcomes in metastatic melanoma, according to the results of a large cohort of patients with advanced melanoma.

Overall survival (OS) and time-to-treatment discontinuation (TTD) were compared according to antibiotic use in the 3 months before the start of anti-PD-1 antibody as first-line therapy in 2605 individuals with advanced melanoma.

Antibiotic use in the 3 months or month prior to the start of therapy was not associated with shorter OS or TTD. Similar results were found in patients treated only with antibiotics linked with more profound gut dysbiosis.

The authors concluded that immunotherapy should not be delayed for patients who have recently received antibiotics.

Reference
Poizeau F, Kerbrat S, Balusson F, et al. The Association Between Antibiotic Use and Outcome Among Metastatic Melanoma Patients Receiving Immunotherapy. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2022;djac019. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djac019. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35253890.