CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Skin Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1609767
PD-1 monoclonal antibodies as an effective treatment for rare cutaneous malignancies: A case report
Provisionally accepted
- 1Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
- 2Department of Internal Medicine, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
- 3Nevada Oncology Specialists, Las Vegas, United States
- 4Quest Diagnostics, Associated Pathologists Chartered, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
- 5American Melanoma Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Adnexal carcinoma and adenosquamous carcinoma are rare forms of skin malignancy that are usually treated via surgical resection or radiotherapy. These cancers become clinically challenging when localized treatment is not feasible. In addition, the cosmetic and functional defects resulting from radical surgical resection of tumors in peri-orbital areas need to be considered. The checkpoint inhibitors pembrolizumab and cemiplimab have been effective treatments for a number of cutaneous malignancies. We present cases of adenosquamous skin cancer and eyelid sebaceous gland cancer that achieved rapid, complete pathological and radiological remission in response to treatment with single agent PD-1 monoclonal antibodies. These patients had minimal, if any toxicity associated with treatment and have each remained recurrence-free for over a year of follow up. The therapeutic potential of PD-1 monoclonal antibodies as a treatment for these rare skin malignancies warrants further evaluation in clinical trials.
Keywords: Checkpoint inhibitor, Cemiplimab, Pembrolizumab, adenosquamous carcinoma, Sebaceous carcinoma, Adnexal carcinoma
Received: 10 Apr 2025; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Falk, Samlowski and Hedayat. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wolfram Samlowski, Department of Internal Medicine, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, 89154, Nevada, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.