Lindsay Hunter1, Justin Moser2, Caleb Sturge3, Gonzalo Barraza4, Sarah Colonna1,2,5. 1. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. 2. Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. 3. Department of Radiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. 4. George E Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Department of Pathology, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. 5. George E Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Plasmacytoid urothelial carcinoma (PUC) is a rare but aggressive variant of transitional cell carcinoma. In patients with unresectable disease, cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy is the most commonly used treatment. However, many patients are cisplatin-ineligible due to poor performance status or other comorbidities. We report a case of a cisplatin-ineligible patient with metastatic PUC who was treated with pembrolizumab. CASE REPORT: A 71-year-old man with 30 pack-year smoking history and schizoaffective disorder was found to have multiple right-sided lung nodules after presenting with atypical chest pain. Staging CT showed bilateral adrenal masses and a large soft tissue mass in the right iliac fossa. Tissue pathology and immunohistochemical staining was consistent with PUC. As the patient was cisplatin-ineligible due to poor performance status and multiple medical comorbidities, the decision was made to treat with pembrolizumab. Repeat CT chest and abdomen showed partial response at three months and stable disease at six months. DISCUSSION: The KEYNOTE-052 study found that first-line pembrolizumab in cisplatin-ineligible patients with urothelial cancer resulted in complete or partial response in 24% of patients with few adverse effects. However, it is unclear if patients with plasmacytoid variant were included. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of a patient with metastatic PUC not only treated with pembrolizumab but shown to have clinical response. CONCLUSION: Given our patient's clinical response, pembrolizumab is a promising first-line agent for treating cisplatin-ineligible patients with metastatic PUC. Further evaluation is warranted to confirm the benefit of treating this patient population with pembrolizumab.
BACKGROUND: Plasmacytoid urothelial carcinoma (PUC) is a rare but aggressive variant of transitional cell carcinoma. In patients with unresectable disease, cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy is the most commonly used treatment. However, many patients are cisplatin-ineligible due to poor performance status or other comorbidities. We report a case of a cisplatin-ineligible patient with metastatic PUC who was treated with pembrolizumab. CASE REPORT: A 71-year-old man with 30 pack-year smoking history and schizoaffective disorder was found to have multiple right-sided lung nodules after presenting with atypical chest pain. Staging CT showed bilateral adrenal masses and a large soft tissue mass in the right iliac fossa. Tissue pathology and immunohistochemical staining was consistent with PUC. As the patient was cisplatin-ineligible due to poor performance status and multiple medical comorbidities, the decision was made to treat with pembrolizumab. Repeat CT chest and abdomen showed partial response at three months and stable disease at six months. DISCUSSION: The KEYNOTE-052 study found that first-line pembrolizumab in cisplatin-ineligible patients with urothelial cancer resulted in complete or partial response in 24% of patients with few adverse effects. However, it is unclear if patients with plasmacytoid variant were included. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of a patient with metastatic PUC not only treated with pembrolizumab but shown to have clinical response. CONCLUSION: Given our patient's clinical response, pembrolizumab is a promising first-line agent for treating cisplatin-ineligible patients with metastatic PUC. Further evaluation is warranted to confirm the benefit of treating this patient population with pembrolizumab.
Authors: Natalie J Miller; Ali Raza Khaki; Leonidas N Diamantopoulos; Mehmet A Bilen; Victor Santos; Neeraj Agarwal; Rafael Morales-Barrera; Michael Devitt; Ariel Nelson; Christopher J Hoimes; Evan Shreck; Hussein Assi; Benjamin A Gartrell; Alex Sankin; Alejo Rodriguez-Vida; Mark Lythgoe; David J Pinato; Alexandra Drakaki; Monika Joshi; Pedro Isaacsson Velho; Noah Hahn; Sandy Liu; Lucia Alonso Buznego; Ignacio Duran; Marcus Moses; Jayanshu Jain; Jure Murgic; Pedro Barata; Abhishek Tripathi; Yousef Zakharia; Matthew D Galsky; Guru Sonpavde; Evan Y Yu; Gary H Lyman; Petros Grivas Journal: J Urol Date: 2020-01-23 Impact factor: 7.450