Cemiplimab as First Line Therapy in Advanced Penile Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Real-World Experience

Abstract

In the treatment of cancer, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have demonstrated significantly greater effectiveness compared to conventional cytotoxic or platinum-based chemotherapies. To assess the efficacy of ICI’s in penile squamous cell carcinoma (pSCC) we performed a retrospective observational study. We reviewed electronic medical records of patients with penile squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), diagnosed between January 2020 and February 2023. Nine patients were screened, of whom three were ineligible for chemotherapy and received immunotherapy, cemiplimab, in a first-line setting. Each of the three immunotherapy-treated patients achieved almost a complete response (CR) after only a few cycles of therapy. The first patient had cerebral arteritis during treatment and received a high-dose steroid treatment with resolution of the symptoms of arteritis. After tapering down the steroids dose, the patient continued cemiplimab without further toxicity. The other two patients did not have any toxic side effects of the treatment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first real world report of near CR with cemiplimab as a first-line treatment in penile SCC.

Keywords

• cemiplimab
• penile carcinoma
• chemotherapy-ineligible
• squamous cell carcinoma
• immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs)