Real-world evidence and clinical observations of the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors

Abstract

To summarize the therapeutic effects of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors on patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a real-world setting, we attempted to identify potential molecular biomarkers or clinical factors that reflected the therapeutic effect. The medical records of patients with non-small cell lung cancer who were treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors were obtained from the outpatient department or inpatient department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital from August 1, 2015, to January 1, 2018. Our follow-up continued until May 1,2018. We chose overall survival (OS) as the primary observation endpoint and progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and safety as the secondary observation endpoints. Efficacy was evaluated according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to generate survival curves, and we compared the influence of different factors on PFS and OS by the log-rank test. The median follow-up time was 11 months. At the end of the follow-up, 24 patients (61.5%) were still undergoing immunotherapy, and 7 patients (17.9%) had died. Twenty-six cases (66.7%) employed PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors as first-line treatment, and 7 cases (17.9%) employed PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors as second-line treatment. Only 6 cases (15.4%) employed PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors as third-line treatment. Therapeutic effect evaluation: Complete response (CR): 1 case (2.6%). Partial response (PR): 10 cases (25.6%). Stable disease (SD): 16 cases (41.0%). Progressive disease (PD): 12 cases (30.8%). The ORR was 28.2%, and DCR was 69.2%. The median PFS was 25.5 months (95% CI 6.8–44.1 months), which failed to reach the median OS. PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor treatment is more effective for advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients in a real-world setting than in clinical trials; PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor treatment is more effective for people who are over 70 than for people who are under 70. Additionally, patients who are over 75 years old have a higher response rate, suggesting that elderly patients may receive more benefits from immunotherapy; Patients who have an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation (+) may benefit from immunotherapy after treatment with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). It is essential to identify these potential patients from the entire patient pool; PD-1 may have a certain curative effect on brain metastases from NSCLC. Local radiotherapy may help to improve PD-1 intracranial efficacy.