Outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with second-line therapy after progression or recurrence after initial first line immune checkpoint-based therapy.

Abstract

e21027 Background: The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) based therapies, including in combination with platinum-based or as monotherapy, is currently the standard of care in stage IV NSCLC patients as a first line therapy. However, there is limited data on the options and outcomes of NSCLC patients if they progress after first-line therapy. This study aims to investigate the clinical outcomes to second lines of treatment for these patients. Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted at Houston Methodist Hospital involving adult patients (> 18 years old) with metastatic stage IV NSCLC who received ICI based therapy (combination or monotherapy) for the treatment of NSCLC and subsequently progressed or recurred and received a second line of therapy between 11/1/2016 and 12/31/2019. We excluded patients with targetable driver mutations (except KRAS) and patients with a concurrent cancer diagnosis. We collected information on the second line of therapy received and evaluated outcomes including progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and overall response rate (ORR). PFS was defined from time of second-line therapy initiation to time of documented recurrence/progression. ORR was defined as patients who achieve partial response (PR) or complete response (CR). The Kaplan Meier method was used for survival analysis. Results: Among patients who received ICI-based first line therapy, 32 patients were identified to meet the inclusion criteria. Twenty-seven (84%) patients had adenocarcinoma and 17 patients had negative PD-L1 stain. Twenty-seven (84%) patients received a combination of carboplatin, pembrolizumab, and pemetrexed, whereas five (16%) patients received ICI monotherapy (3 pembrolizumab, 1 nivolumab and 1 durvalumab). Thirteen patients had an initial response to first-line therapy (11 PR, 2 CR). After progression/recurrence, various therapies were administered as second-line with the most common being the use of ICI + chemotherapy combination (6 pts, 19%) or ramucirumab + taxotere combination (6 pts, 19%). The remaining patients received other types of chemotherapy, targeted therapy, ICI, or were enrolled in a clinical trial. Nine patients (28%) had a response after 2nd line therapy [4 CR and 5 PR], 16 (50%) had progressive disease, and 5 (16%) had mixed response/stable disease. The cohort median PFS after 2nd line of therapy was 16.9 weeks (95% CI: 14.4-19.3). Conclusions: These findings reflect the variability in practices in stage IV NSCLC patients who progress after receiving ICI-based first line therapy. Outcomes of patients who progress after their first line remain suboptimal with short-lived responses. Further studies are needed to investigate the efficacy and safety of different second line treatment options.