Efficacy of immunotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Introduction. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a form of lung cancer with high incidence and low overall survival. Immunotherapy is a promising treatment method for which the selection of optimal treatment regimens for each individual patient is important.Aim. To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in patients with advanced NSCLC.Materials and methods. The study included 247 patients (190 men and 57 women) aged 37 to 87 years who received ICIs as monotherapy with nivolumab (n = 58; 23.4%), pembrolizumab (n = 78; 31.6%) and atezolizumab (n = 13; 5.3%), and in the form of combination chemoimmune therapy (n = 98; 39.7%). The objective response of the tumor to treatment was recorded in the presence of partial or complete regression of the tumor. The tumor response to treatment was determined in accordance with the iRECIST criteria.Results. Objective response was achieved in 20.6% of patients, of which 13.7% were on the first line setting, and 7% of patients were on the 2nd or more line setting. Disease control was recorded in 83.3% of patients. Patients receiving combination chemoimmune therapy had a better response to treatment than those receiving monotherapy (χ2 = 9.309; p = 0.020). Grade 3–4 immuno-related adverse events were observed only in 5 (2.02%) patients.Conclusions. NSCLC immunotherapy allows to achieve high rates of objective response and disease control (20.6 and 83.3%, respectively), with a small number of grade 3–4 immuno-related adverse events (2.02% according to our data), which indicates an acceptable safety profile.