Correlation of cetuximab-induced skin rash and outcomes of solid tumor patients treated with cetuximab: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the correlation between cetuximab-induced skin rash and outcomes of solid tumor patients treated with cetuximab.

Patients and methods: Eligible studies included phase I, II and III trials of patients with solid tumors on cetuximab; describing events of skin rash and correlating skin rash with overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS) and/or overall response rate (ORR).

Results: Our search strategy yielded 409 potentially relevant citations on CETUXIMAB from Pubmed/Medline, CENTRAL Cochrane registry and ASCO meeting library. After exclusion of ineligible studies, a total of 13 clinical trials were considered eligible for the meta-analysis, including 4 phase III trials, 8 phase II trials and one phase I trial. The occurrence of cetuximab-induced rash in patients was highly associated with improvements in PFS (HR=0.74; 95% CI: 0.63-0.86, P<0.0002), OS (HR=0.60; 95% CI: 0.47-0.76, P<0.0001), and ORR (RR=1.51, 95% CI: 1.26-1.81, P<0.00001), as compared to patients without rash. Exploratory subgroup analysis showed no effect of tumor types on the RR of ORR.

Conclusions: Our meta-analysis has demonstrated that cetuximab-induced rash is associated with a significantly improved OS, PFS and ORR. Cetuximab-induced skin rash may represent a prognostic factor in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Keywords: Cetuximab; Meta-analysis; Skin rash.