Evaluating the potential of relapse-free survival as a surrogate for overall survival in the adjuvant therapy of melanoma with checkpoint inhibitors

Highlights

  • We explored relapse-free survival (RFS) as a surrogate for overall survival (OS).
  • We used data from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer 18071 trial and published results from other trials.
  • We found a strong association between RFS and OS at the patient level.
  • We found a moderate association between RFS and OS at the trial level.
  • Our results are promising and require confirmation with a larger number of trials.

Access the article here: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1bXTN3QE–L158

Abstract

Introduction

Recent changes in the adjuvant treatment of melanoma have raised interest in confirming relapse-free survival (RFS) as a surrogate for overall survival (OS).

Methods

We explore this issue with the meta-analytic framework, using individual patient data from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 18071 trial of ipilimumab and published results from other adjuvant trials.

Results

The individual patient data analysis results at a median follow-up of 5.3 years showed a strong association between RFS and OS at the patient level (ρ = 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.82–0.87) and a moderate association at the trial level (R2 = 0.59; 95% CI: 0.08–1.00).

Conclusions

The trial-level association previously observed in interferon-based trials appeared to be maintained when the EORTC 18071 results were added to a regression analysis using published results from other trials. More data from adjuvant trials are required to confirm the strength of association between RFS and OS in this setting.

Elisabeth Coart, Stefan Suciu, Pierre Squifflet, Everardo D.Saad, Andriy Moshyk, Gaetande Schaetzen, Marc Buyse, Jeffrey S.Weber, Alexander Eggermont & Srividya Kotapati

ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN: European Journal of Cancer,  Volume 137, September 2020, Pages 171-174

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2020.07.011 

Keywords
Melanoma, Relapse-free survival, Overall survival, Surrogate end-points,
Meta-analysis, Correlation studies