Lung cancer biomarker testing: perspective from Europe.

A questionnaire on biomarker testing previously used in central European countries was extended and distributed in Western and Central European countries to the pathologists participating at the Pulmonary Pathology Society meeting 26-28 June 2019 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Each country was represented by one responder. For recent biomarkers the availability and reimbursement of diagnoses of molecular alterations in non-small cell lung carcinoma varies widely between different, also western European, countries. Reimbursement of such assessments varies widely between unavailability and payments by the health care system or even pharmaceutical companies. The support for testing from alternative sources, such as the pharmaceutical industry, is no doubt partly compensating for the lack of public health system support, but it is not a viable or long-term solution. Ideally, a structured access to testing and reimbursement should be the aim in order to provide patients with appropriate therapeutic options. As biomarker enabled therapies deliver a 50% better probability of outcome success, improved and unbiased reimbursement remains a major challenge for the future.

Therapeutic efficacy of the F8-IL2 immunocytokine in a metastatic mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: Antibody-cytokine fusion proteins (immunocytokines) represent a novel class of armed antibodies in oncology. In particular, IL2- and TNF-based immunocytokines targeting the EDB domain of fibronectin and the A1 domain of tenascin-C have demonstrated promising anti-tumor activity and are currently investigated in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials. To advance the development of immunocytokines for NSCLC, we here report on the therapeutic efficacy of F8-IL2, an immunocytokine directed against the alternatively spliced EDA domain of fibronectin in a fully immunocompetent, orthotopic model of NSCLC, and the characterization of the target antigen expression in human NSCLC specimens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of the F8-IL2 immunocytokine utilizing a K-ras mutant, p53 deficient metastatic mouse model of NSCLC derived from the latest generation of genetically engineered and conditional tumor models. In parallel, we assessed the presence of the EDA domain of fibronectin by immunofluorescence in lung biopsies obtained from patients with NSCLC. RESULTS: The EDA domain of fibronectin was broadly expressed in lung metastases obtained from our model. Treatment with F8-IL2 induced substantial local changes within immune effector cell populations and demonstrated promising therapeutic efficacy as monotherapy. The target of F8-IL2, the EDA domain of fibronectin, was present in all human lung adenocarcinoma specimens tested. CONCLUSION: Both the therapeutic efficacy in a metastatic mouse model of NSCLC and the extensive presence of the EDA domain of fibronectin in human NSCLC biopsies support the rational development of therapies based on the F8-IL2 immunocytokine for the treatment of NSCLC.