Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors In Patients Research Articles

Efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of advanced melanoma in patients with concomitant chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized the management of advanced melanoma (AM). However, data on ICI effectiveness have largely been restricted to clinical trials, thereby excluding patients with co-existing malignancies. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most prevalent adult leukemia and is associated with increased risk of melanoma. CLL alters systemic immunity and can induce T-cell exhaustion, which may limit the efficacy of ICIs in patients with CLL. We, therefore, sought to examine the efficacy of ICI in patients with these co-occurring diagnoses. In this international multicenter study, a retrospective review of clinical databases identified patients with concomitant diagnoses of CLL and AM treated with ICI (US-MD Anderson Cancer Center, N= 24; US-Mayo Clinic, N= 15; AUS, N= 19). Objective response rates (ORRs), assessed by RECIST v1.1, and survival outcomes [overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS)] among patients with CLL and AM were assessed. Clinical factors associated with improved ORR and survival were explored. Additionally, ORR and survival outcomes were compared between the Australian CLL/AM cohort and a control cohort of 148 Australian patients with AM alone. Between 1997 and 2020, 58 patients with concomitant CLL and AM were treated with ICI. ORRs were comparable between AUS-CLL/AM and AM control cohorts (53% versus 48%, P= 0.81). PFS and OS from ICI initiation were also comparable between cohorts. Among CLL/AM patients, a majority were untreated for their CLL (64%) at the time of ICI. Patients with prior history of chemoimmunotherapy treatment for CLL (19%) had significantly reduced ORRs, PFS, and OS. Our case series of patients with concomitant CLL and melanoma demonstrate frequent, durable clinical responses to ICI. However, those with prior chemoimmunotherapy treatment for CLL had significantly worse outcomes. We found that CLL disease course is largely unchanged by treatment with ICI.

Immunotherapy for inflammatory breast cancer: current evidences and future perspectives.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most fatal type presentation of clinical breast cancer. The immune tumor microenvironment (TME) of IBC is characterized by signals of immune evasion but suggests actionable vulnerability to immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). In this review, we aimed to summarize the most important preclinical evidences of IBC immune-vulnerability and the first data from clinical trials evaluating ICIs in IBC. IBC is characterized by a preexisting active immune TME suppressed by mechanisms of immune-escape, including inhibitory immune-checkpoints, whose expression is higher than in non-IBC. Clinical trials evaluating ICIs in patients with IBC are burdened by slow accrual and low enrollment. Because of the limited data from clinical trials, no conclusions about the activity of ICIs in IBC can be drawn. Ongoing clinical trials are assessing many promising ICI-based combination approaches. An enhanced multicenter collaboration to evaluate ICIs in patients with this aggressive form of disease and to improve clinical outcomes is required.

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy for Orbital and Ocular Adnexal Squamous Cell Carcinomas: International Society of Ocular Oncology President's Lecture, 2022.

To summarize an invited lecture topic from the proceedings of the International Society of Ocular Oncology meeting in Leiden in 2022. Mechanism of action, indications, and the authors' clinical experience with immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with locally advanced ocular adnexal squamous cell carcinoma are summarized. Several cases of locally advanced conjunctival, eyelid, and lacrimal sac/duct squamous cell carcinoma that were successfully treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (PD-1 directed) are shared. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are effective at reducing tumor size and enabling eye-preserving surgery in patients with locally advanced ocular adnexal squamous cell carcinoma with orbital invasion. They present a new strategy for the treatment of locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the ocular adnexa and orbit.

Reduced risk of secondary primary extra pulmonary cancer in advanced/metastatic lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

BackgroundLung cancer survivors are at high risk of developing a second primary cancer (SPC). We explored the Unicancer Epidemiology Strategy Medical-Economics for advanced or metastatic lung cancer (AMLC) database to assess the impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) on the risk of SPC in patients with advanced/metastatic lung cancer. Patients and methodsThis retrospective study used data from patients with AMLC, with treatment initiated between January 1st 2015 and December 31st 2018. Patients with lung cancer as the second primary cancer were excluded and a 6-months landmark threshold was applied to exclude patients with synchronous SPC, patients dead without SPC or with a follow-up inferior to 6 months. A propensity score (PS) was calculated on the following baseline covariates: Age at locally advanced or metastatic diagnosis, sex, smoking status, metastatic status, performance status and histological type. The inverse probability of treatment weighting approach was used on the analyses aiming to assess the impact of ICI administered for AMLC, on the risk of occurrence of SPC. ResultsAmong the 10 796 patients, 148 (1.4%) patients had a diagnosis of SPC in a median interval of 22 (min–max: 7–173) months. All the patients (100%) with locally advanced or metastatic LC received at least one systemic treatment including (chemotherapy regimen (n = 9 851, 91.2%); ICI (n = 4 648, 43.0%); targeted treatment (n = 3 500; 32.4%). 40 (0.9%) SPC were reported in the 4 648 patients with metastatic LC treated with ICI vs 108 (1.7%) out of the 6 148 who did not receive immunotherapy (p < 0.0001). The multivariate analysis identified that treatment with ICI in patients with AMLC is associated with a reduced risk of SPC (HR = 0.40, 95% CI 0.27–0.58). ConclusionTreatment with ICI in AMLC patients was associated with a significantly reduced risk of SPC. Prospective studies are required to confirm these results.

Sequencing checkpoint inhibitor therapy in renal cell carcinoma

Initial therapy in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma includes drugs that inhibit immune checkpoints, thereby blocking the negative regulators of an antitumour immune response. Currently, this therapy includes a combination of a PD-1 inhibitor and either a second checkpoint inhibitor, an antibody against CTLA4, or one of several small molecule inhibitors of the VEGF receptor. These PD-1-based combination therapies have improved clinical outcomes including overall survival. 1 Motzer RJ McDermott DF Escudier B et al. Conditional survival and long-term efficacy with nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus sunitinib in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. Cancer. 2022; 128: 2085-2097 Crossref PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar , 2 Rini BI Plimack ER Stus V et al. Pembrolizumab plus axitinib versus sunitinib for advanced renal-cell carcinoma. N Engl J Med. 2019; 380: 1116-1127 Crossref PubMed Scopus (1841) Google Scholar , 3 Choueiri TK Powles T Burotto M et al. Nivolumab plus cabozantinib versus sunitinib for advanced renal-cell carcinoma. N Engl J Med. 2021; 384: 829-841 Crossref PubMed Scopus (618) Google Scholar , 4 Motzer R Alekseev B Rha S-Y et al. Lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab or everolimus for advanced renal cell carcinoma. N Engl J Med. 2021; 384: 1289-1300 Crossref PubMed Scopus (614) Google Scholar Although use of checkpoint inhibitor-based combination therapy has led to a subset of patients who have a durable response and disease control without the need for further systemic therapy, the majority of patients will progress and require additional treatment. Atezolizumab plus cabozantinib versus cabozantinib monotherapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma after progression with previous immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment (CONTACT-03): a multicentre, randomised, open-label, phase 3 trialThe addition of atezolizumab to cabozantinib did not improve clinical outcomes and led to increased toxicity. These results should discourage sequential use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with renal cell carcinoma outside of clinical trials. Full-Text PDF

Atezolizumab plus cabozantinib versus cabozantinib monotherapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma after progression with previous immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment (CONTACT-03): a multicentre, randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are the standard of care for first-line treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, yet optimised treatment of patients whose disease progresses after these therapies is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine whether adding atezolizumab to cabozantinib delayed disease progression and prolonged survival in patients with disease progression on or after previous immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment. CONTACT-03 was a multicentre, randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial, done in 135 study sites in 15 countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Patients aged 18 years or older with locally advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma whose disease had progressed with immune checkpoint inhibitors were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive atezolizumab (1200 mg intravenously every 3 weeks) plus cabozantinib (60 mg orally once daily) or cabozantinib alone. Randomisation was done through an interactive voice-response or web-response system in permuted blocks (block size four) and stratified by International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium risk group, line of previous immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, and renal cell carcinoma histology. The two primary endpoints were progression-free survival per blinded independent central review and overall survival. The primary endpoints were assessed in the intention-to-treat population and safety was assessed in all patients who received at least one dose of study drug. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04338269, and is closed to further accrual. From July 28, 2020, to Dec 27, 2021, 692 patients were screened for eligibility, 522 of whom were assigned to receive atezolizumab-cabozantinib (263 patients) or cabozantinib (259 patients). 401 (77%) patients were male and 121 (23%) patients were female. At data cutoff (Jan 3, 2023), median follow-up was 15·2 months (IQR 10·7-19·3). 171 (65%) patients receiving atezolizumab-cabozantinib and 166 (64%) patients receiving cabozantinib had disease progression per central review or died. Median progression-free survival was 10·6 months (95% CI 9·8-12·3) with atezolizumab-cabozantinib and 10·8 months (10·0-12·5) with cabozantinib (hazard ratio [HR] for disease progression or death 1·03 [95% CI 0·83-1·28]; p=0·78). 89 (34%) patients in the atezolizumab-cabozantinib group and 87 (34%) in the cabozantinib group died. Median overall survival was 25·7 months (95% CI 21·5-not evaluable) with atezolizumab-cabozantinib and was not evaluable (21·1-not evaluable) with cabozantinib (HR for death 0·94 [95% CI 0·70-1·27]; p=0·69). Serious adverse events occurred in 126 (48%) of 262 patients treated with atezolizumab-cabozantinib and 84 (33%) of 256 patients treated with cabozantinib; adverse events leading to death occurred in 17 (6%) patients in the atezolizumab-cabozantinib group and nine (4%) in the cabozantinib group. The addition of atezolizumab to cabozantinib did not improve clinical outcomes and led to increased toxicity. These results should discourage sequential use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with renal cell carcinoma outside of clinical trials. F Hoffmann-La Roche and Exelixis.

Effect of KDR mutations on efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with bladder cancer.

4521 Background: KDR (kinase insert domain receptor) is the most important VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) receptor that mediates the signaling transduction initiated by the VEGF ligands. VEGF signaling can activate angiogenesis which plays a crucial role in tumor growth, metastasis, and treatment response. Here we explore the relationship between KDR mutation and its efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in patients with bladder cancer. Methods: To explore the association between KDR mutations and the efficacy of ICIs in bladder cancer patients, we collected clinical and mutation data of 215 patients who received ICIs (PD-(L)1 and/or CTLA-4 inhibitors) from MSKCC cohort. Gene expression data and WES mutation data of 413 samples in the TCGA database were obtained from the UCSC Xena for analysis of the differences of potential biological mechanisms between KDR-mutant and KDR-wildtype tumors. TMB was calculated as the total number of somatic non-synonymous mutations per megabase. CIBERSORT was applied to infer 22 immune cell type proportions in TCGA advanced bladder cancers. Results: In MSKCC cohort, we observed 5.6% (12/215) samples had KDR mutation. Survival analysis showed that KDR-mutant patients had longer overall survival (OS) than that of wildtype patients (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.07-1.09, logrank test P = 0.048); median OS (not reached versus 15 months). Then we compared the TMB between KDR-mutant and KDR-wildtype tumors, the results showed that KDR-mutant group had higher TMB in MSKCC cohort (median [IQR]: 17.58 [11.64–47.81] versus 7.90 [4.92–14.76], P=0.002) and TCGA cohort (median [IQR]: 10.69 [5.87–19.85] versus 4.60 [2.52–8.08], P=0.001). Analysis of 22 immune cell subsets in the TCGA advanced bladder cancers, B cells naive, plasma cells and macrophages M1 were significantly abundant in KDR-mutant tumors (all P &lt;0.05). Conclusions: In ICI-treated bladder cancers, KDR mutation is associated with prolonged OS, higher TMB and activated antitumor immunity, which suggests that KDR mutation may serve as a potential biomarker to guide ICI therapy in bladder cancer.

Safety and efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with cancer and pre-existing autoimmune disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis in non-small cell lung cancer.

9053 Background: Cancer patients with pre-existing autoimmune diseases (AID) have been traditionally excluded from clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) due to concerns for immune activation leading to toxicity. As indications for ICI expand, there is a need for robust data on safety and efficacy of ICI in cancer patients with AID. Existing studies examined a heterogenous group of cancers and do not include a comparison to cancer patients without pre-existing AID. Therefore, data are lacking concerning how safety and efficacy of ICI in this group of patients may differ from the general population and whether the results are generalizable to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We searched for studies consisting of NSCLC, AID, ICI, treatment response, and adverse events using database-controlled vocabulary terms. We systematically searched Medline (PubMed), EMBASE, Scopus, CINAHL, and Web of Science. We selected studies that included NSCLC and excluded abstracts, case reports, review articles, and articles lacking outcomes or populations of interest. Three authors (WA, CL, NS) independently reviewed all abstracts to determine study eligibility and quality. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Study data were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Results: Data were extracted from 24 cohort studies, consisting of 10,924 cancer patients, of which 4353 were NSCLC patients. Studies examined a broad spectrum of AID consisting of 1157 patients, of which 291 were NSCLC patients. Pooled analysis revealed an AID flare incidence of 36% (95%CI 27%-46%) in all cancers and 23% (95%CI 9%-40%) in NSCLC. Tests of subgroup difference revealed no significant difference in AID flares by organ system in all cancers and NSCLC (p = 0.602 and p = 0.19, respectively). Pre-existing AID was associated with a higher risk of de novo iRAE in all cancer patients (RR 1.38, 95%CI 1.16-1.65) and in NSCLC patients (RR 1.51, 95%CI 1.12-2.03). There was no difference in de novo grade 3-4 iRAE and tumor response between cancer patients with and without AID. However, in NSCLC patients, pre-existing AID was associated with a 2-fold increased risk of de novo grade 3-4 iRAE (RR 1.95, 95%CI 1.01-3.75) but also better tumor response in achieving a complete or partial response (RR 1.56, 95%CI 1.19-2.04). Conclusions: Pre-existing AID confers an increased risk of toxicity during ICI therapy. NSCLC patients with AID are at a higher risk of de novo grade 3-4 iRAE but are also more likely to achieve treatment response than those without AID. Multidisciplinary collaboration is paramount when considering ICI therapy in this patient population with careful calculation of risk and benefit as well as close monitoring for toxicity.

Association of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and venous thromboembolism (VTE) in non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC): A single healthcare system experience.

e14680 Background: NSCLC and chemotherapy are well-known predisposing factors for VTE. There are conflicting data regarding the association between ICI and VTE in patients with NSCLC. In a retrospective study by Khorana et al. in 2299 NSCLC patients, VTE incidence was numerically lower for patients receiving ICI than chemotherapy. In another study by Attia et al., in 514 patients with lung cancer, there was an increased incidence of VTE with ICI. We conducted a retrospective chart review to further assess the relationship between VTE and ICI in patients with NSCLC who were treated at our facility. Methods: All adult patients &gt;18 years of age with NSCLC who received cancer treatment in our academic health system between January 2011- January 2021 were extracted from the tumor registry. Information was obtained about the type of cancer treatment, deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) occurrence, and associated comorbidities. Patients were divided into two groups – chemotherapy and combined ICI-chemotherapy. Fisher exact tests were used to compare categorical covariates by VTE status, while Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used for continuous covariates. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to adjust for potential confounding. Results: 370 patients with NSCLC were included in the study. No statistically significant difference was found between VTE incidence and race, histology, or gender. There was a decreased VTE rate among non-advanced cancer (6.2% vs. 18.1%, p=.015) and squamous cell histology (7.5% vs. 28.1%, p=.009). Although the rate of VTE increases slightly in ICI/chemotherapy (17.4%, CI: 11.2%-25.8%) when compared to chemotherapy (15.3% %, CI: 11.2%-20.4%), this was not statistically significant (p=.645). After adjusting for sex, histology, and race, ICI/chemotherapy group had a statistically insignificant increase in odds of VTE events (adjusted OR = 1.24 95% CI = 0.67-2.3, p=.498) compared to the chemotherapy group. The odds of death were significantly lower in patients with ICI/chemotherapy (aOR=.33, 95% CI = .2-.54, p=.001). The median time between ICI use and VTE was 21 days (CI: 12.5-65), while the median time between chemotherapy and VTE was 65.5 days (CI=36.5-146.5). Conclusions: In patients with NSCLC who were treated at our facility, there was no significant VTE difference in patients related to race or gender identity. Likewise, there was no statistical difference in the incidence of VTE in the ICI/chemotherapy and chemotherapy groups. Multivariable logistic regression of various groups to the vital status of the patients shows a statistically significant decrease in death in ICI/chemotherapy group, which is a potential censoring event for VTE. Further studies, including meta-analyses, are required to evaluate the association further, given conflicting results on prior retrospective studies.

Biomarkers to predict the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer with actionable genetic alterations.

e21175 Background: Although the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in patients with actionable genetic alterations (AGAs) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been known to be modest, some patients demonstrated improved survival. Thus, this study aimed to find predictive biomarkers for ICI in patients with NSCLC with various AGAs and to identify the predictive biomarkers for ICI efficacy. Methods: We compared the progression-free survival (PFS) of 324 advanced NSCLC patients who received ICI monotherapy (as over second-line therapy) by different AGAs from January 2018 and July 2022 at the Samsung Medical Center. To identify predictive markers of ICI, we adjusted the impacts on PFS of ICI in smoking status, PD-L1 expression, TP53, KEAP, STK11 mutation status, and steroid use during ICI monotherapy. Results: The median age was 63.1 years (range, 27.8–84.8) and 53.1% of patients was male, and 46.3% of patients was an ex-/or current smoker. A total of 324 patients were included with the following AGAs: EGFR mutation (n = 149, 46.0%), ALK rearrangement, (n = 12, 3.7%), KRAS mutation (n = 72, 22.2%), HER2 mutation or amplification (n = 34, 10.5%), and MET ex14 skipping or amplification (n = 32, 9.9%), ROS1 rearrangement (n = 9, 2.8%), BRAF V600E (n = 9, 2.8%), and RET rearrangement (n = 7, 2.2%). The median PFS was 2.0 months (95% confidence interval, 1.8–2.2) in the total AGA group. The 6-month PFS rate was 25.8% (19.5–34.3) in the group with KRAS/ BRAF V600E/ MET/ HER2 and 12.8% (8.6–19.1) in the group with EGFR/ ALK/ ROS1/ RET (P &lt; 0.01). In the group with KRAS/ BRAF V600E/ MET/ HER2, KEAP, or STK11 wild-type (P = 0.03), PD-L1 (≥1%) (P &lt; 0.01) and steroid use during ICI monotherapy due to immune-related adverse events (IRAE) (P &lt; 0.01) were related to a favorable PFS of ICI; however, no statistical significance was found for TP53 mutation and smoking status for PFS of ICI. In the group with EGFR/ ALK/ ROS1/ RET, PD-L1(≥ 50%) was the only factor that was related to a favorable PFS, and not TP53 mutation status, KEAP, or STK11. Conclusions: This study showed a difference in PFS among each type of AGAs. Although there are limitations due to the small number of patients, the KRAS/ BRAF V600E/ MET/ HER2 group had a favorable PFS compared with the EGFR/ ALK/ ROS1/ RET group . KEAP/STK11/PD-L1 status and steroid use due to IRAE predicted favorable PFS of ICI in the KRAS/ BRAF V600E/ MET/ HER2 group .

Tumor mutational burden (TMB) in real-world patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC): Differences in genomic alterations (GA) and predictive value for immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) effectiveness.

4146 Background: Currently, ICI therapy is recommended for patients with metastatic PDAC whose tumors exhibit dMMR, MSI-H, or high TMB (≥10 mutations/Mb). However, due to the low prevalence of high TMB in PDAC (~1%), few studies have evaluated the role of ICI therapy in this subpopulation. This study aimed to compare GA between PDAC patients with high TMB and low TMB ( &lt; 10 mutations/Mb) and to evaluate the effectiveness of ICIs in real-world PDAC patients by TMB status. Methods: This study included PDAC patients who underwent genomic testing using Foundation Medicine tissue comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assays. GA were compared between tissue specimens with high and low TMB by chi-squared, adjusted for multiple comparisons. Patient clinical data was obtained by the US-wide de-identified Flatiron Health and Foundation Medicine real-world clinicogenomic pancreatic database (CGDB), originated from ~280 US cancer clinics between 01/2011 and 09/2022. Real-world overall survival (OS) and time to treatment discontinuation (TTD) were compared between patients receiving an ICI (high TMB versus low TMB) and between patients with high TMB (ICI versus other therapies) by Cox models. Results: We included 21,932 patients with PDAC with tissue CGP data available; 98.7% with low TMB and 1.3% with high TMB. Among actionable alterations, patients with high TMB had higher prevalence of mutations in BRCA2 (p &lt; 0.0001), BRAF (p &lt; 0.0001), PALB2 (p &lt; 0.0001), and genes of the mismatch repair pathway ( MSH2, MSH6, MLH1, and PMS2, p &lt; 0.0001), but lower prevalence of KRAS mutations (p &lt; 0.0001). The most common KRAS mutation in both groups of patients was G12D. In CGDB, 51 patients received an ICI (10 with high TMB and 41 with low TMB) and 17 patients with high TMB received other therapies. Among patients receiving an ICI, those with high TMB had more favorable median OS compared to those with low TMB (25.7 versus 5.2 months, hazard ratio (HR) 0.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.09 - 0.76, p = 0.01) and median TTD (20.7 versus 3.0 months, HR 0.33, 95% CI 0.13 - 0.82, p = 0.02). Among patients with high TMB, those receiving an ICI had more favorable OS compared to those receiving other therapies (25.7 versus 6.6 months, HR 0.31, 95% CI 0.10-0.96, p = 0.043), nominally favoring ICI use in this small cohort (n = 10 versus 17). Conclusions: There is no randomized clinical trial evaluating ICI versus other therapies in PDAC. To our knowledge, this is the largest cohort to date comparing ICI effectiveness in PDAC. We observed more favorable OS among PDAC patients with high TMB receiving ICI versus those with low TMB who received an ICI and more favorable to those with high TMB receiving other therapies. This study supports the FDA-approved use of ICIs in patients with PDAC and high TMB and demonstrates the importance of TMB assessment for patients with PDAC.

NEO-CESQ study: Neoadjuvant plus adjuvant treatment with cemiplimab in surgically resectable, high risk stage III/IV (M0) cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

9576 Background: In the last years, the treatment of locally advanced and/or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) has been revolutionized by the introduction of cemiplimab, an anti-PD-1 antibody, which showed a 50% overall response rate and long term benefit (1). Recently, a phase II trial of neoadjuvant cemiplimab in resectable CSCC patients (2), showed a major pathological response (MPR) rate of 63.3%. In the current multicenter, phase II trial we evaluated the efficacy of neoadjuvant plus adjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitor in patients with surgically resectable, high-risk stage III/IV (M0) CSCC. Methods: Patients with surgically resectable high-risk stage III/IV (M0) CSCC received cemiplimab at a dosage of 350 mg every 3 weeks for two cycles prior surgery and for one year after surgery. The study primary endpoint was MPR [pathological complete response (pCR) or near pCR ( &lt; 10% remaining viable tumour cells in the surgical pathology sample)] per independent central pathology review. Key secondary endpoints included recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS), safety and the analysis of predictive biomarkers. Results: From May 2021 to October 2022 twenty-three patients were enrolled in 6 centers. pCR was observed in 9 (39%) patients and near pCR in 2 (8%) patients, while pathological partial response (10-50% remaining viable tumour cells) and no pathologic response was observed in 1 patient and 11 patients, respectively. At data lock of 31st January 2023, only one patient was discontinued due to clinical progression. Furthermore, it was observed n = 60 (57%) any adverse events (AE) and n = 29 (30%) treatment-related AE. No any G3/G4 AE were observed. Conclusions: Neoadjuvant cemiplimab induced a pathological response in 52% of stage III/IV (M0) CSCC patients with a MPR in 48%. The study is still ongoing to evaluate the impact of combined neoadjvuant and adjuvant immunotherapy on RFS and biomarkers analysis. Clinical trial information: NCT04632433 .

Correlation between biomarkers and treatment outcomes in diverse cancers: A meta-analysis of phase I and II immunotherapy clinical trials.

e14638 Background: Many immuno-oncology (IO) trials are conducted without biomarker selection. We performed a meta-analysis of phase I/II clinical trials evaluating immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) to determine the association between biomarkers and clinical outcomes, if any. Methods: We searched PubMed for phase I/II clinical trials of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (labeled, off-label, or combined with investigational ICIs or other treatment modalities) from 2018 to 2020. We compared the objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) between biomarker-positive and biomarker-negative groups, using data from correlative studies. Results: Overall, 174 clinical studies that included 19,178 patients were identified and 131 studies investigated &gt;30 correlative biomarkers, that included PD-L1 expression (≥1%, 111 studies), tumor mutational burden (20 studies), and microsatellite instability/mismatch repair deficiency (10 studies). Overall, 123, 46, and 30 cohorts (drugs, tumor types, or biomarkers) with 11,692, 3,065, and 2,256 patient outcomes for ORR, PFS, and OS, respectively, were analyzed in correlation with biomarkers. Meta-analyses demonstrated that ICIs in patients with biomarker-positive tumors were associated with higher ORR (odds ratio 2.15 [95% CI, 1.79-2.58], p&lt;0.0001); and longer PFS (hazard ratio [HR] 0.55 [95% CI, 0.45-0.67], p&lt;0.0001), and OS (HR 0.65 [95% CI, 0.53-0.80], p&lt;0.0001) compared with those with biomarker-negative tumors. Significance for ORR and PFS was retained in multivariate analysis (p&lt;0.001) (OS, not included owing to the small number of trials reporting OS). Conclusions: Our data suggest that IO biomarkers should be used in patient selection for ICIs. Prospective studies are warranted.

Imaging response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced melanoma: A retrospective observational cohort study.

e21524 Background: The association of objective imaging response with first line immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy regimes in advanced melanoma remains uncharacterized in a real-world context. We compared likelihood of objective response between patients receiving first line anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (anti-PD1) monotherapies (pembrolizumab or nivolumab), or combination nivolumab with the cytotoxic T-cell lymphocyte-antigen 4 inhibitor ipilimumab and outlined the association between objective response and baseline characteristics and survival outcomes. Methods: We conducted a multi-center retrospective cohort analysis of advanced melanoma patients receiving first line ICI therapy from 2013-2020 in Alberta, Canada. Best imaging response was assessed by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, Version 1.1. The primary outcome was likelihood of objective imaging response (complete or partial response) between patients receiving anti-PD1 monotherapy and those receiving combination nivolumab-ipilimumab. Secondary outcomes were the identification of baseline characteristics associated with non-response and the association of imaging response with overall survival (OS) and time to next treatment (TTNT) endpoints. Results: Of the 255 patients included, 49/255 (19.2%) had complete response 112/255 (43.9%) had partial response, 28/255 (11.0%) had stable disease, and 66/255 (25.9%) had progressive disease. Median OS was not evaluable (NE) (95% CI NE-NE) for complete responders, NE (95% CI 52.93 months-NE) for partial responders, 21.30 months (95% CI 15.20 months-NE) for stable disease, and 7.72 months (95% CI 5.77-10.6 months) for progressive disease (log rank p &lt; 0.0001). A robust delineation of TTNT by imaging response was also seen. Likelihood of objective response was similar between patients treated with nivolumab-ipilimumab compared to those receiving anti-PD1 monotherapy (OR 1.87 95% CI 0.85-4.20, p = 0.124). Normal LDH level (OR 2.13; 95% CI 1.01-4.35, p = 0.047), non-mucosal primary site (OR 9.09; 95% CI 2.44-33.33, p &lt; 0.001), and absence of BRAF V600E mutation (OR 3.23; 95% CI 1.39-7.69, p = 0.007) were independently associated with likelihood of objective imaging response in multivariable analysis. Conclusions: In this real-world analysis, we demonstrate no significant difference in likelihood of objective response between patients treated with anti-PD1 monotherapy and combination nivolumab-ipilimumab, and demonstrate that a normal LDH level, non-mucosal primary site, and absence of BRAF V600E mutation are associated with response. Imaging response was also strongly associated with both OS and TTNT irrespective of therapy received. These results may help inform treatment selection, and aid in counseling of advanced melanoma patients treated with first line ICI therapy in a routine clinical practice setting.

Incidence and outcomes of immune-related adverse events after immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma.

e19513 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have recently been found to be effective in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). However, given the impaired systemic immune response in HL, it is unclear whether immune-related adverse events (irAEs) would manifest differently in this population; data on this topic remains scarce. Methods: Data were collected from an aggregated electronic medical record (EMR) database TriNetX Research Network (TriNetX LLC., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA). Adult patients diagnosed with HL who received pembrolizumab or nivolumab between 1/2018 and 1/2022 were included. irAEs were identified through a set of validated ICD-10-CM codes. Results: Within the study period, a total of 567 patients with HL were identified. Among them, 363 (63.8%) patients received nivolumab and 263 (46.4%) received pembrolizumab. The mean age was 50.1 (SD 19.6) years-old, 227 (40.0%) patients were female, 69 (12.2%) were black, and 156 (27.5%) received ICI-based therapy as the frontline treatment. irAE of any grade occurred in 280 (49.4%) of patients. Patients who experienced irAEs were more likely to be older (p = 0.0106), while using ICIs as the frontline or after various previous treatments was not associated with irAEs (Table). Among specific irAEs, skin toxicities, thyroid dysfunction, pneumonitis, colitis, and hepatitis occurred in 31.6%, 23.6%, 2.8%, 9.3%, and 3.2% of patients, respectively. Regarding the management for irAEs, systemic steroids, topical steroids, mycophenolate, and infliximab were used in 63.6%, 36.8%, 3.6%, and 3.6% of patients, respectively. Of note, ICIs were able to be resumed in 71.1% of patients with irAEs. After propensity-score matching for known prognostic factors for HL, patients with or without irAE had similar overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio 0.84, 95% confidence interval 0.57 to 1.23, p=0.36). No significant difference of OS was seen across different subtypes of irAE, including skin toxicities (p=0.64), thyroid dysfunction (p=0.74), or colitis (p=0.28). Conclusions: irAEs were common in patients with HL receiving ICIs. The majority of patients with irAEs were able to resume ICIs, and the development of irAEs did not affect overall survival. [Table: see text]

Retrospective analysis of digital biomarker predictability of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy outcomes in patients with NSCLC.

e14713 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy (pembrolizumab monotherapy and pembrolizumab combined with platinum-based chemotherapy) is recommended as first line for patients with PD-L1 positive advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without actionable biomarkers due to incredible improvements in overall survival (OS). Despite this, 15-20% of patients do not respond to ICI therapy in NSCLC. This study examines the effect of body composition features, via analytic morphomics, in conjunction with current clinical and laboratory data to predict ICI response. Methods: This retrospective analysis included 35 patients from the University of Michigan (UM) with newly diagnosed advanced or metastatic NSCLC (adenocarcinoma) receiving single-agent pembrolizumab or in combination with chemotherapy between January 2018 – December 2020. Clinical/ laboratory data included patient gender, age, BMI, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), PDL1 %, and albumin. Analytic Morphomics was performed using proprietary, semi-automated high-throughput CT image processing (mBIOHEALTH, Inc.). Multivariable Cox regression analysis identified clinical and morphomic characteristics predictive of OS at 6 months. Risk models were developed on the UM cohort and tested on an external validation dataset of 24 adenocarcinoma patients from Emory Healthcare who received similar treatment between January 2018 to December 2021. Results: Among the evaluable patients at both sites, 15 (43%) at UM and 19 (79%) at Emory were female, mean age was 66 years at UM and 70 years at Emory, and 6-month OS (95% CI) was 89% (80%, 100%) at UM and 71% (55%, 92%) at Emory. Five regression models with risk scores were assessed with the UM data and then tested with the Emory dataset. Of the five models, 2 matched in their predictability of 6-month OS at both sites. The first, a model of clinical and laboratory features only (age, BMI, PDL1 &gt; = 50%, NLR, and albumin) which had an AUC of 0.79 at UM and 0.66 at Emory. The other utilized an L3 skeletal muscle z-score threshold ( &lt; = -1) alone (previously studied as a measurement of sarcopenia) with an AUC of 0.741 at UM and 0.57 at Emory. Conclusions: Our analysis indicates that the measurement of muscle z-score prior to initiating treatment with ICIs in patients with NSCLC could serve as an indicator for those patients who are unlikely to benefit from therapy. This may be especially important for ICI therapy as skeletal muscle effects the immune function through myokines. Sarcopenia has been associated with immune senescence and thus may play a significant role in decreasing response to ICI therapy. More analysis is warranted with a larger patient population.

Outcome of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer and brain metastases.

e20625 Background: Brain metastases (BMs) are common in extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) and are underrepresented in pivotal clinical trials that demonstrate the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). We conducted a retrospective analysis to assess the role of ICIs in BM lesions in less selected patients. Methods: Patients with histologically confirmed extensive-stage SCLC who were treated with ICIs were included in this study. Objective response rates (ORRs) were compared between the with-BM and without-BM groups. Kaplan‒Meier analysis and the log-rank test were used to evaluate and compare progression-free survival (PFS). The intracranial progression rate was estimated using the Fine-Gray competing risks model. Results: A total of 133 patients were included, 45 of whom started ICI treatment with BMs. In the whole cohort, the overall ORR was not significantly different for patients with and without BMs (p = 0.856). The median progression-free survival for patients with and without BMs was 6.43 months (95% CI: 4.70-8.17) and 4.37 months (95% CI: 3.71-5.04), respectively (p = 0.054). In multivariate analysis, BM status was not associated with poorer PFS (p = 0.101). Our data showed that different failure patterns occurred between groups, with 7 patients (8.0%) without BM and 7 patients (15.6%) with BM having intracranial-only failure as the first site progression. The cumulative incidences of brain metastases at 6 and 12 months were 15.0% and 32.9% in the without-BM group and 46.2% and 59.0% in the BM group, respectively (Gray’s p &lt; 0.0001). Conclusions: Although patients with BMs had a higher intracranial progression rate than patients without BMs, the presence of BMs was not significantly associated with a poorer ORR and PFS with ICI treatment in multivariate analysis.

Outcomes of peritoneal metastases in mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) cancers treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors and variables associated with response.

e14576 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have revolutionized the treatment of many solid malignancies. ICI appears particularly effective when tumors exhibit high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) and/or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) status. Although the response is typically quite good in this setting, there are scenarios where benefit is less than anticipated. In this study, we aimed to explore the efficacy of ICIs in patients with MSI-H/dMMR cancers with peritoneal metastasis (PM). Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review to identify patients (pts) with PM from primary MSI-H/dMMR cancers treated with immunotherapy between 2010 and 2022 at Mayo Clinic. Data was collected to include pt demographics, tumor characteristics, pathology, tumor markers, imaging, mutational profile, and previous and subsequent treatments. The primary endpoint was disease control rate (DCR), defined as objective response rate (RECIST v1.1 criteria) or stable disease. Results: Forty-six pts with MSI-H/dMMR and PM treated with ICIs. Most of our cohort were female (61%) with a median age at diagnosis of 61 years. Colorectal cancer was the most common primary site (69.6%), followed by endometrial (6.5%). Most pts received treatment with PD-1 antibodies as second-line therapy following systemic chemotherapy. DCR of the PM was 71.6 % (n= 13 PR, 9 CR, and 9 SD), with a median duration of response of 12.6 months. Thirteen pts (28.4%) had progressive peritoneal disease on ICI with a median PFS of 2.2 months. Ascites was a poor prognosticator and predicted a lack of benefit from ICI (HR 6.6, 95% CI=2.24-19.9, p= 0.006). Mucinous and signet ring histology were common in pts with peritoneal progression (61.5%); however, this was not statistically significant (HR=1.6; 95%CI= 0.4383 to 3.899, p 0.5). Multivariate analysis for the presence or absence of BRAF and/or RAS mutations was not statistically significant in predicting response. Neither was the specific MMR gene mutation(i.e., MLH1 or PMS2). Interestingly, discordant responses between the peritoneum and other sites of metastasis to immunotherapy were seen in 13 pts (28.4%), primarily as primary peritoneal progression compared to other tumor sites. Conclusions: In our cohort, the DCR of metastatic peritoneal disease in MSI-H/dMMR tumors was approximately 71%. The presence of ascites was identified as a poor prognosticator in this setting and was associated with a lack of response/benefit from ICIs. Histologic subtype (i.e., mucinous/signet ring) did not show statistical significance in predicting ICI response. The subpopulation with discordant response to ICI suggests that peritoneal immunobiology may differ from other sites. Further research on immunotherapy response in the peritoneum is needed for this special subset of pts.

Pan tumor outcomes to immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients of Native American origin in the United States: The multicenter POINT-US study.

2654 Background: Despite receiving identical standard-of-care therapies, epidemiological data indicate that Native American (NA) patients (pts) with cancer have worse outcomes vs. White pts. ICIs have revolutionized the treatment of certain tumors, however pts from certain racial and ethnic groups, including NA pts, are underrepresented in ICI trials. Methods: This is an ongoing multi-center retrospective study across four U.S. academic cancer centers that serve a high volume of NA pts. We included pts with self-reported race as NA in electronic medical records. We evaluated clinical outcomes and immune-related adverse events (irAEs) of 71 NA pts age ≥18 years with various solid tumors treated with ICI-based therapies between 2015 to 2021. IrAEs were defined based on the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 5.0) or RECIST 1.1. as available, was used to determine objective response rate (ORR). Kaplan Meier log-rank method was used to generate median progression free survival (mPFS) and median overall survival (mOS). Results: Median age (range) at ICI initiation was 62 (24 -81) years; 43 (60%) were males, with 26 (37%) females, 2 pts with missing gender data. 55 (77%) of pts had ECOG performance status 0. The distribution of top six tumor types included (number of pts [%]): non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) 22 (31%), renal cell carcinoma (RCC) 16 (23%), melanoma 7 (10%), small cell lung cancer (SCLC) 4 (6%), hepatocellular carcinoma 4(6%); colorectal adenocarcinoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, cervical squamous cell carcinoma each had 3 pts (4%). Most pts (51 [72%]) received single agent ICI, 12 (17%) had dual ICI, 4 (6%) had chemotherapy+ ICI, and remaining had either ICI + tyrosine kinase inhibitor or ICI + study drug (4 [6%]). 55% of pts with NSCLC underwent tumor next-generation sequencing (NGS) while &lt;30% of patients with renal cell carcinoma or melanoma had tumor NGS performed. Among 71 pts, 17 (24%) had any grade (G) irAE, 4 (6%) were reported to be ≥G3. The median time to irAE onset was 18 weeks and 3 (4%) pts discontinued ICI due to irAEs. The mPFS, mOS and ORR for the most frequent tumors (N ≥5) are shown. Conclusions: Although limited by sample size, our emerging data provides new insights into ICI efficacy and irAEs in NA pts that have been unknown to date. To our knowledge, this is the first and only attempt to date evaluating ICI outcomes in NA pts. Updated clinical data and tumor genomics will be presented at the meeting. [Table: see text]

CAN-2409 plus prodrug with standard of care immune checkpoint inhibitor for patients with stage III/IV NSCLC.

TPS9162 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are a standard of care (SOC) treatment that have improved outcomes for patients (pts) with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, most pts progress, signaling a need for combination approaches to further improve outcomes. CAN-2409 is a replication-defective adenoviral construct encoding the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene that is injected intratumorally followed by 2 weeks of prodrug (valacyclovir or acyclovir). HSV-tk converts the prodrug in the tumor microenvironment into a toxic metabolite, resulting in immunogenic cell death, while the adenoviral proteins provide a strong pro-inflammatory signal. Together, this leads to in situ vaccination against the patient’s own tumor. As a result, CD8+ cytotoxic T cells are educated on how to recognize and kill tumor cells in both the injected tumor and the uninjected metastases. A completed neoadjuvant phase I trial in resectable NSCLC demonstrated safety and immune stimulation (Predina et al 2021), warranting further investigation of CAN-2409 + prodrug as a therapy that can lead to improved long-term outcomes for pts with NSCLC who have a suboptimal response to ICI. Methods: LuTK02 (NCT04495153) is an open-label, multi-arm, phase II clinical trial to evaluate CAN-2409 + prodrug added to SOC ICI (anti-PD-(L)1) therapy in pts with stage III/IV NSCLC presenting with inadequate response (as defined below) to ICI. Cohort 1 includes pts with nonresponding but stable disease ≥18 weeks after starting ICI; cohort 2 includes pts with progressive disease ≥18 weeks after starting ICI. Key eligibility criteria include RECIST-evaluable disease; an injectable lesion (via bronchoscopy or US/IR guidance); ability to continue ICI for the treatment period; no change of ICI or prior interruptions of &gt; 4 weeks within 6 months of enrollment; and no focal therapy at &gt; 3 sites of disease within 12 months prior to enrollment. Key exclusion criteria include a history of ICI immune-related adverse events and known alterations in EGFR, ALK, or ROS1. Eligible patients receive 2 injections of CAN-2409 approximately 6 weeks apart followed by prodrug for 14 days. After treatment of ~40 evaluable pts in cohort 2 with two injections of CAN-2409, the protocol has been amended to include a new cohort (n~20) of pts treated with three injections of CAN-2409 approximately 4 weeks apart, each followed by prodrug for 14 days, to further define the optimal therapeutic regimen. Primary endpoints are overall response and/or disease control rate per RECIST 1.1 criteria and safety of CAN-2409 + prodrug. Secondary endpoints include duration of response, PFS, OS, and biomarker studies. Exploratory endpoints include evaluation of effects in non-injected lesions, changes in non-target (per RECIST) lesions, tumor growth trajectory, and viral shedding. Clinical trial information: NCT04495153 .