{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T06:29:48Z","timestamp":1790836188409,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,21]],"date-time":"2022-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1663718400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cancers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Vitiligo-like depigmentation (VLD) is an immune-related adverse event (irAE) of checkpoint-inhibitor (CPI) treatment, which has previously been associated with a favourable outcome. The aim of this study was to explore clinical, biological and prognostic features of melanoma patients with VLD under CPI-treatment and to explore whether they exhibit a characteristic immune response profile in peripheral blood. Melanoma patients developing VLD under CPI were included in a prospective observational single-center cohort study. We collected and analysed clinical parameters, photographs and serum from 28 VLD patients. They received pembrolizumab (36%), nivolumab (11%), ipilimumab\/nivolumab (32%) or clinical trial medications (21%). We performed a high-throughput proteomics assay (Olink), in which we identified a distinct proteomic signature in VLD patients in comparison to non-VLD CPI patients. Our clinical assessments revealed that VLD lesions had a predominantly symmetrical distribution pattern, with mostly smaller \u201cfreckle-like\u201d macules and a preferential distribution in UV-exposed areas. Patients with previous targeted therapy showed a significantly longer time lapse between CPI initiation and VLD onset compared to non-pre-treated patients (12.5 vs. 6.25 months). Therapy responders exhibited a distinct proteomic profile when compared with non-responders in VLD such as upregulation of EDAR and downregulation of LAG3. ITGA11 was elevated in the VLD-group when compared to non-VLD-CPI-treated melanoma patients. Our findings demonstrate that on a proteomic level, VLD is characterized by a distinct immune signature when compared to CPI-treated patients without VLD and that therapy responsiveness is reflected by a characteristic immune profile. The pathomechanisms underlying these findings and how they could relate to the antitumoral response in melanoma remain to be elucidated.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers14194576","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,21]],"date-time":"2022-09-21T21:22:23Z","timestamp":1663795343000},"page":"4576","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Clinical Presentation and Prognostic Features in Patients with Immunotherapy-Induced Vitiligo-like Depigmentation: A Monocentric Prospective Observational Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Nicola","family":"Hermann","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9202-0073","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lara Valeska","family":"Maul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Milad","family":"Ameri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Medical Campus Davos, 7265 Davos, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4806-599X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stephan","family":"Traidl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Medical Campus Davos, 7265 Davos, Switzerland"},{"name":"Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7016-6725","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Reihane","family":"Ziadlou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Medical Campus Davos, 7265 Davos, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karolina","family":"Papageorgiou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Isabel","family":"Kolm","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5902-9420","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mitchell","family":"Levesque","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9914-1545","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julia-Tatjana","family":"Maul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8607-6254","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marie-Charlotte","family":"Br\u00fcggen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Medical Campus Davos, 7265 Davos, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1535","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMoa1910836","article-title":"Five-Year Survival with Combined Nivolumab and Ipilimumab in Advanced Melanoma","volume":"381","author":"Larkin","year":"2019","journal-title":"N. 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