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

• This is a meta-analysis of the cetuximab-induced rash and outcomes of solid tumor patients.
• A total of 13 clinical trials were considered eligible for the meta-analysis.
• It demonstrated that cetuximab-induced rash is associated with an improved OS.

BackgroundWe 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 methodsEligible 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).ResultsOur 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.ConclusionsOur 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.