Impact of antibiotic use on survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor and chemotherapy.

Immune-Related Adverse Events and Outcomes in Patients with Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Predictive Marker of Efficacy?

In patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are an effective mode of treatment. Despite their efficacy, responses to ICIs have been shown to differ based on several factors; for example, antibiotic use prior to and/or during immunotherapy has been associated with lower survival in NSCLC patients. The objective of this study is to provide an updated review of the literature and to fill in important knowledge gaps by accounting for potential confounding in the relationship between ICIs and survival. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on peer-reviewed studies that examined the effects of antibiotic use on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in NSCLC patients treated with ICIs. We searched MEDLINE for studies published up to June 30th, 2023 that included NSCLC patients treated with anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) or programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) agents, who received antibiotics before and/or during immunotherapy, and included a control group who did not receive antibiotics and had available data on the associations between antibiotics and OS and PFS. We calculated aggregated crude OS and PFS for all studies, and only for studies that reported multivariable hazard ratios (HRs). Risk of bias was assessed using a funnel plot. All results were synthesized and displayed using the metaphor statistical package in R, version 4.2.1. Nineteen studies, conducted between 2017 and 2022, met the inclusion criteria, and included 2,932 patients with advanced and/or metastatic NSCLC. Compared to those who did not receive antibiotics, immunotherapy patients who did had a significantly reduced PFS (HR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.03-1.44) and OS (HR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.23-1.99). Adjusted HRs were even more pronounced (OS HRadj: 1.67, 95% CI: 1.23-2.27, PFS HRadj: 1.64, 95% CI: 1.16-2.32). NSCLC patients treated with antibiotics have significantly lowered survival compared with patients not treated with antibiotics. These results support the hypothesis that antibiotic use in conjunction with ICI among NSCLC patients lowers survival. Limitations of this analysis include the use of studies available only on a single database, limiting the literature search to NSCLC patients, which may impact the generalizability of results to other cancer patient populations, and the inability to account for and adjust the estimates for the same variables (e.g., age, sex) across all studies. Nevertheless, our findings underscore the importance of taking antibiotic use into consideration when using ICIs to treat NSCLC and suggest that confounders should be taken into account when designing future similar studies.

P09.20 Impact of Antibiotics During Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor (ICI) Therapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Real-World Analysis

A novel investigation into the negative impact of opioid use on the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients

23 Validation of PD-L1 dynamic expression on extracellular vesicles as a predictor of response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors and survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients

Effect of antibiotic treatment on immune checkpoint inhibitors efficacy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

BackgroundData on the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation are limited. The current study aimed to assess the efficacy of ICIs in EGFR-mutant advanced NSCLC and explore the relevant influential factors.Materials and MethodsRelevant clinical data of EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients who had received ICIs were collected from multiple hospitals. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), and the secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), and relevant influential factors.ResultsA total of 122 advanced EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients were included in the final analysis. The total cohort had an objective response rate (ORR) of 32.0%, a median progression-free survival (mPFS) of 5.0 months, and a median overall survival (mOS) of 14.4 months. Among 96 patients with common EGFR mutations (19Del, 52 patients; L858R, 44 patients), those who were administered front-line ICI exhibited better survival benefits than those who received later-line ICI after disease progression on tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) treatment (mPFS: 7.2 months vs. 3.4 months, respectively, P < 0.0001; mOS: 15.1 months vs. 8.4 months, respectively, P <0.0001). Moreover, the efficacy of ICI-based combination therapy was better than that of ICI monotherapy (mPFS: 5.0 months vs. 2.2 months, respectively, P = 0.002; mOS: 14.4 months vs. 7.0 months, respectively, P = 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that ICI-based combination therapy and front-line ICI administration after progression on EGFR-TKI were associated with significant improvements in both PFS and OS (P < 0.05). A high PD-L1 expression (tumor proportion score, TPS≥50%) and the EGFR L858R mutation were only significantly associated with a better PFS (P <0.05). A better Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status was independently associated with a favorable OS (P <0.05).ConclusionsTaken together, combination immunotherapy in front-line was associated with improvement of survival in EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients post-TKI resistance. Further prospective studies with large sample sizes are required to identify the optimal combinatorial treatment strategy.

BackgroundIn recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in combination with chemotherapy have increased survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which plays a key role in tumor angiogenesis, is an immunological modulator; therefore, it is expected that anti-VEGF therapy in combination with ICIs enhances the antitumor effect of ICIs. In the present study, we investigated the impact of VEGF inhibition on clinical outcomes of NSCLC patients, including the efficacy of ICI treatment.MethodsA total of 105 patients with advanced NSCLC who had been treated with ICIs were retrospectively analyzed to examine the relationship between the history of treatment with anti-VEGF agents and the clinical outcomes with ICI monotherapy.ResultsPatients who had received anti-VEGF therapy prior to ICIs showed shortened progression-free survival of ICI treatment and a decreased overall response rate to ICI treatment. By contrast, anti-VEGF therapy after ICI treatment was associated with increased survival, especially in patients who had also received anti-VEGF therapy prior to ICI therapy.ConclusionsThese retrospective observations suggest that anti-VEGF therapy prior to ICIs might be a negative predictor of response to ICIs. The sequence of anti-VEGF therapy might play a role in its ability to predict survival in NSCLC patients. Further investigation is warranted to identify the role of VEGF inhibition in altering clinical outcomes after immunotherapy.

The effects of antibiotics on the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer differ based on PD-L1 expression

e21067 Background: Efficacy of BRCA1/2 inhibitor in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is under investigation in serval clinical trials. Meanwhile immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) has become one of the standard therapies for advanced NSCLC, while its efficacy in BRCA mutant NSCLC is not clear. This study assessed the efficacy of anti-PD-(L)1/CTLA-4 in advanced BRCA-mutant NSCLC. Methods: Data of cohort OAK, POPLAR and Rizvi et al.,2018 was downloaded. Efficacy including objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were reviewed for BRCA1/2 mutant and wild-type group. The impact of mutant gene ( BRCA1, BRCA2), histological types (adenocarcinoma, squamous) and tumor mutation burden ranges (TMB, &gt; 10 SNVs/Mb, &lt; 10 SNVs/Mb) was analyzed if information was available. Results: A total of 809 ICI-treated advanced NSCLC patients, including 53 (6.6%) with BRCA1/2 mutation, were identified. In OAK/POPLAR cohort (atezolizumab monotherapy, 2nd line or more), TMB in BRCA1/2 mutant group was significant higher (19.2 vs. 10.24, P=0.008) than group of wild-type. The ORR of mutant group was 21.9% (Table), median PFS was 2.5 months, median OS was 9.5 months. The ORR and PFS were comparable between mutant and wild-type groups, while OS of the mutant group was significantly shorter than that in wild-type group (mOS, 9.5 months vs. 14.1 months, P= 0.02). Within mutant group, no significant difference of ORR, PFS and OS were found between mutant gene ( BRCA1 vs. BRCA2), histological type (adenocarcinoma vs. squamous) and TMB range (&gt;10 vs. &lt;10). In Rizvi’s cohort (anti-PD-(L)1 /CTLA-4 mono- or combination therapy, 1st line or more), TMB in mutant group was also significant higher (22.2 vs. 9.1, P=0.04) than wild-type group. ORR, PFS for mutant and wild-type groups were 25.0% vs. 20.1%, 3.2 months vs. 3.4 months, without significant difference. Within mutant group, superior PFS was found in adenocarcinoma subgroup (mPFS, 5.5 months vs. 1.2 months (squamous subgroup), P = 0.008) and BRCA2-mutant subgroup tend to have superior PFS (mPFS 5.5 months vs. 1.8 months, P=0.08) than BRCA1-mutant subgroup. Conclusions: This retrospective multicohort analysis showed a trend of worse survival in BRAC-mutant NSCLC patients after ICI treatment compared to those in wild-type group, in spite of higher TMB level. Analysis with more samples are needed to provide more precise treatment reference. [Table: see text]

Background:Cutaneous adverse events (AEs) have been positively associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) efficacy in patients with melanoma, but little is known regarding the association between checkpoint inhibitor pneumonitis (CIP) and programmed cell death protein 1/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) inhibitor efficacy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods:A single-institution, retrospective medical record review of patients with advanced or recurrent NSCLC who were treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors between 1 September 2015 and 1 June 2019 was conducted. A total of 276 NSCLC patients with or without immune-related pneumonitis who received at least one dose of ICIs and had at least one follow-up visit were identified. Kaplan–Meier curves of the progression-free survival (PFS) of patients stratified according to immune-related pneumonitis development were evaluated with the log-rank test as a preplanned primary objective. Multivariate analysis of PFS was performed with Cox proportional hazard regression models.Results:In the cohort of 276 patients, 42 patients developed CIP attributed to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. Survival analysis showed that the overall response rate was significantly higher in patients with CIP than in those without CIP (61.90% versus 29.91%, respectively, p < 0.01), and that CIP development was significantly associated with increased PFS (45.80 weeks versus 21.15 weeks, respectively, p < 0.01). Additionally, 16-week landmark analysis produced the same results. Similarly, subgroup analysis of PD-1 inhibitor-treated, nivolumab-treated, and pembrolizumab-treated groups also revealed that CIP increased survival in NSCLC patients. Additionally, grade 1–2 pneumonitis showed an association with increased ICI efficacy in NSCLC; however, grade 3–4 pneumonitis did not. In addition, only two of the four pneumonitis radiological subtypes showed associations with increased ICI efficacy in NSCLC.Conclusion:CIP is associated with enhanced PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor efficacy in NSCLC patients. Grade 1–2 pneumonitis and the radiological features of hypersensitivity and cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP) may be signs of enhanced ICI efficacy. However, further studies with larger numbers of patients and longer follow-up times are needed to validate our findings.

Adoptive cellular immunotherapy (ITx) targeting various types of carcinoma including the lung is widely used, yet the clinical effectiveness has not been evaluated in large cases of lung carcinoma. So we carried out a case-control study to investigate the effect of ITx for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in Japanese population. Between 2001 and 2006, 163 patients were identified as having advanced NSCLC with ECOG performance status (PS) 0/1 who underwent ITx with or without standard chemotherapy (CTx). The controls were 232 advanced NSCLC patients with PS 0/1 who had standard CTx or BSC alone. Overall survival (OS) and 1- and 2-year survival were obtained with Kaplan-Meyer survival curves and compared using log-rank and generalized Wilcoxon analysis. Multivariate analysis with Cox proportional hazard models was also performed to analyze survival. The mean age of total population was 64.8 + 10.6 years. There were 251 males and 144 females and 295 adenocarcinoma (Ad) and 74 squamous cell carcinoma (Sq) patients. The mean period and frequency of ITx was 10.2 months and 8.7 times, respectively. Median OS for CTx and ITx + CTx was 15.7 and 20.8 months, respectively. Multivariate analysis with Cox proportional hazard model showed that sex (male vs female) (HR=0.33, p&amp;lt;0.001) and histology (Ad vs Sq) (HR=0.14, p=0.045) were independent predictors of OS. It is revealed that ITx when administered as monotherapy was effective compared to BSC in male with Sq (HR=0.47, p=0.038) and female with Ad (HR=0.53, p=0.016). Additional effect of ITx on CTx was obtained in Ad histology, especially in female (p=0.039). The present findings suggest that ITx may contribute to better survival for advanced or metastatic NSCLC patients under certain circumstances. These results should be confirmed in large prospective clinical trials. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5523. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5523

Recent evidence suggests that combining radiotherapy (RT) with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) may result in better outcomes. In this study, we assessed the efficacy and safety of ICI plus radiation versus ICI alone and explored potential factors affecting its efficacy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The databases including PubMed and Embase were searched to retrieve eligible studies comparing the efficacy and safety outcomes in advanced NSCLC patients after ICIs ± RT treatments. We performed subgroup analyses to identify potential prognostic factors from radiation details and study types. The odds ratio (OR) of objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR), hazard ratio (HR) of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), and risk ratio (RR) of adverse events were used to represent the outcome effects. 26 eligible studies with 14192 cases were included. The results showed that the ORR (OR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.42, 0.93; p = 0.02) and DCR (OR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.82; p < 0.01) of RT + ICIs groups were significantly higher than those of the ICIs alone group. The median PFS and OS for ICIs versus RT + ICIs were 2.2 versus 4.4 months and 9.0 versus 13.4 months, respectively. Patients in the ICIs plus RT group had a significantly better PFS (HR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.64, 0.81; p < 0.01) and OS (HR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.65, 0.83; p < 0.01) when compared to those in the ICIs group. In terms of adverse events, the risk of pneumonia was not significantly increased in patients treated with both ICIs and RT when compared to ICIs group alone (risk ratio = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.55, 1.44; p = 0.63). The correlation analysis found that PFS was significantly correlated with OS (p = 0.02). The subgroup analysis results showed that significant improvements in OS were observed in non-palliative RT group (HR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.65; p < 0.01) and extracranial RT group (HR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.59, 0.83; p < 0.01). RT type could also be a prognostic factor associated with the OS (for conventional RT: HR = 0.68 and p = 0.22; for stereotactic body radiation therapy: HR = 0.77 and p < 0.01). However, concerning RT timing, the results showed a similar trend in reducing mortality risk (for previous RT: HR = 0.64 and p = 0.21; for concurrent RT: HR = 0.35 and p = 0.16). RT plus ICIs is associated with improved survival for advanced NSCLC patients, especially for those with non-palliative RT. Further clinical trials are needed to validate its effect on survival outcomes.

In this retrospective study, we aimed to assess the relationship between mutations in the Kirsten rats sarcoma viral oncogene (KRAS )/ tumor protein p53 (TP53 ) genes and the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) therapy as a second-line or later-line treatment for patients with stage IIIB/IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 143 patients with stage IIIB/IV NSCLC who were admitted to the Cancer Hospital of Harbin Medical University between January 2019 and September 2022. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis was performed to analyze the survival outcomes. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional risk models were used to analyze the factors associated with the progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of advanced-stage NSCLC patients who received ICIs as second-line or later-line therapy. NSCLC patients with KRAS or TP53 mutations treated with ICIs showed significantly higher objective response rate, disease control rate, PFS, and OS compared to NSCLC patients with wild-type KRAS / TP53 (P < 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that a combined treatment regimen of ICIs plus chemotherapy was significantly associated with prolonged PFS [hazard ratio = 0.192; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.094-0.392; P < 0.001] and OS (hazard ratio = 0.414; 95% CI, 0.281-0.612; P < 0.001). KRAS or TP53 mutations were associated with improved PFS of advanced NSCLC patients treated with ICIs as second-line or later-line therapy. KRAS or TP53 mutations show great potential as clinical biomarkers to predict the efficacy of ICIs therapy.

Single-agent immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) like pembrolizumab or atezolizumab have been approved as first-line monotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with PD-L1 ≥ 50%. However, emerging evidences have showed that ICI combinations (chemoimmunotherapyor dual-agent ICIs) argue to offer a higher response rate. In this network meta-analysis, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of first-line single-agent ICIs versus ICI combinations for advanced NSCLC patients with PD-L1 ≥ 50%. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and the Clinicaltrials.gov were systematically searched to extract eligible literature until December 2020. Outcomes included overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR) and treatment related adverse events (TRAEs) of grades 3-5. Fourteen studies with 3448 patients were included. The results showed that chemotherapy plus ICIs significantly improved PFS and ORR compared to chemotherapy, and sinti-chemo (HR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.20-0.49) and pembro-chemo (OR: 4.2, 95% CI: 2.6-6.7) ranked first. In terms of OS, cemiplimab provided the best benefit versus chemotherapy (HR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.43-0.77), followed by atezolizumab and pembro-chemo. In the subgroup analysis of histological type, pembro-chemo and sinti-chemo showed the best benefit of PFS in squamous and nonsquamous NSCLC, respectively, while there was no significant difference between ICI combinations with single-agent ICIs in OS. Moreover, the addition of chemotherapy to ICIs elevated toxicity compared to chemotherapy. The study suggested that chemotherapy plus ICIs might improve PFS and ORR than single-agent ICIs for advanced NSCLC patients with PD-L1 ≥ 50%. However, it did not lead to OS benefit.