Carcinomes épidermoïdes multiples après traitement par ingénol mébutate

Immunomodulators for Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers: Updated Perspectives

Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) are the most common cancers worldwide and may be associated with significant morbidity and mortality, especially in immunosuppressed populations. Successful management of NMSC must take primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies into consideration. In response to an improved understanding of the pathophysiology of NMSC and associated risk factors, multiple systemic and topical immunomodulatory drugs have been developed and integrated into clinical practice. Many of these drugs are efficacious in the prevention and treatment of precursor lesions (actinic keratoses; AKs), low-risk NMSC, and advanced disease. The identification of patients at high risk for the development of NMSC is critical in reducing disease morbidity. Understanding the various treatment options available and their comparative effectiveness is paramount for developing a personalized treatment regimen for such patients. This review article provides an updated overview of the various topical and systemic immunomodulatory drugs available for the prevention and treatment of NMSC, and the published data supporting their use in clinical practice.

Ingenol Mebutate Is Associated With Increased Reporting Odds for Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Actinic Keratosis Patients, a Pharmacovigilance Study of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS)

BACKGROUND

Recently the production and marketing of ingenol mebutate in the European Union (EU) and Canada was halted due to a possible increased risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in patients with actinic keratosis (AK).

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between SCC and topical AK medications including ingenol mebutate in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS).

METHODS

Case/non-case analyses were performed in FAERS using data from 2012 to 2020 to examine the reporting odds ratio (ROR) signal for SCC for ingenol mebutate and all classes of topical AK medications under multiple conditions: i. comparison to all other drugs in FAERs, ii. comparison to other topical AK medications, iii. comparison to all other topical AK medications where only a single agent was implicated, iv. comparison of ingenol mebutate vs. imiquimod.

RESULTS

A statistically significant ROR for SCC was found for ingenol mebutate under all conditions (i. 31.57 (25.45, 39.16), ii. 50.35 (32.21, 78.82), iii 61.09 (35.36, 105.56), iv. 2.53 (1.27, 5.05). A significant but substantially smaller signal was observed for imiquimod (i. 12.38 (6.42, 32.84), ii. 5.18 (2.61, 10.26), iii 5.42 (2.49, 11.78), but not for fluorouracil or diclofenac. When compared to imiquimod directly, ingenol mebutate had a statistically significant ROR for SCC (2.53 (1.27, 5.05).

CONCLUSION

Our findings support an association between SCC and ingenol mebutate. This association is maintained under controls to limit bias and falsely elevated signal including controlling for disease state and cases with multiple drug exposures and when compared to imiquimod as in Phase IV studies of ingenol mebutate.

Safety of topical interventions for the treatment of actinic keratosis

Introduction: Actinic keratosis (AK) are proliferations of atypical keratinocytes that may eventually progress to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, AK requires consequent and early treatment. Areas covered: A variety of effective approaches is currently available for the clearance of AK. These interventions may be applied either in a lesion-directed or field-directed mode as AK can occur as single or multiple lesions. Field-directed approaches typically comprise topical drug-mediated interventions which aim at eliminating all visible lesions and also at clearing subclinical changes of the actinically damaged field. However, most treatment options are associated with local adverse events such as erythema, scaling, pain, and rarely with systemic symptoms. This expert review provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the safety considerations of the commonly prescribed topical treatment agents cyclooxygenase inhibitors, 5-fluorouracil, imiquimod, ingenol mebutate, and photodynamic therapy. All these therapies have been proven efficient, yet they differ considerably regarding their safety profile. Expert opinion: In the future, safety concerns will relate to long-term and irreversible adverse drug events instead of application site reactions. In particular, the rate of treatment-associated non-melanoma skin cancers will increasingly come into focus and warrant investigation in postmarketing surveillance trials with a long-term follow-up.