Efficacy and safety of local ablative therapy for patients with NSCLC and coexisting interstitial lung disease.

BACKGROUND: The effective therapeutic approach is still an unmet need for patients diagnosed with both lung cancer and interstitial lung disease (ILD). This is primarily due to the possible risk of ILD exacerbation caused by surgery or radiotherapy. The current study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of local ablative therapy (LAT) for this specific population. METHODS: Consecutive patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and ILD who received LAT between January 2018 and August 2022 were enrolled, and propensity score matching (PSM) was utilized to match the non-ILD group. The primary endpoint was recurrence-free survival (RFS), and secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), adverse events (AEs) and hospital length of stay (HLOS). RESULTS: The PSM algorithm yielded matched pairs in the ILD group (n = 25) and non-ILD group (n = 72) at a ratio of 1:3. There were no statistically significant differences in RFS (median 16.4 vs. 18 months; HR = 1.452, p = 0.259) and OS (median: not reached vs. 47.9 months; HR = 1.096, p = 0.884) between the two groups. Meanwhile, no acute exacerbation of ILD was observed in the ILD group. However, the incidence of pneumothorax, especially pneumothorax requiring chest tube drainage, was significantly higher (36.0% vs. 11.2%, p = 0.005) among patients with NSCLC and co-existing ILD, which resulted in longer HLOS (p = 0.045). CONCLUSION: Although ILD was associated with a higher incidence of pneumothorax, the efficacy of LAT for NSCLC patients with ILD was comparable to those without ILD, suggesting that LAT might be a reliable and effective treatment option for this population, particularly in the early stage.

Association of PD-L1 expression with efficacy of alectinib in advanced NSCLC patients with ALK fusion.

BACKGROUND: Programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression was found to be a biomarker of inferior efficacy of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, whether PD-L1 expression could also serve as a similar biomarker in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive patients, especially for those treated with front-line alectinib, remains unclear. The aim of the study is to investigate the association of PD-L1 expression and efficacy of alectinib in this setting. METHODS: From January 2018 to March 2020, 225 patients with ALK-rearranged lung cancer were consecutively collected at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University. Baseline PD-L1 expression was detected using immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 56 patients of advanced ALK-rearranged lung cancer who received front-line alectinib. RESULTS: Among the 56 eligible patients, 30 (53.6%) were PD-L1 expression negative, 19 (33.9%) patients had TPS 1%-49% and 7 (12.5%) had TPS ≥ 50%.We found no statistically significant associations between PD-L1 positivity and objective response rate (ORR, 90.0% vs. 80.8%, p = 0.274) or progression-free survival (PFS, not reached vs. not reached, HR: 0.98, 95 %CI: 0.37-2.61, p = 0.97) in patients treated with alectinib. Meanwhile, patients with PD-L1 high expression (TPS ≥ 50%) had a trend of longer PFS (not reached vs. not reached, p = 0.61). CONCLUSIONS: PD-L1 expression might not serve as a predict biomarker for the efficacy of front-line alectinib in ALK-positive NSCLC patients.

PD-L1 methylation restricts PD-L1/PD-1 interactions to control cancer immune surveillance.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) or programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) have enabled some patients with cancer to experience durable, complete treatment responses; however, reliable anti-PD-(L)1 treatment response biomarkers are lacking. Our research found that PD-L1 K162 was methylated by SETD7 and demethylated by LSD2. Furthermore, PD-L1 K162 methylation controlled the PD-1/PD-L1 interaction and obviously enhanced the suppression of T cell activity controlling cancer immune surveillance. We demonstrated that PD-L1 hypermethylation was the key mechanism for anti-PD-L1 therapy resistance, investigated that PD-L1 K162 methylation was a negative predictive marker for anti-PD-1 treatment in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, and showed that the PD-L1 K162 methylation:PD-L1 ratio was a more accurate biomarker for predicting anti-PD-(L)1 therapy sensitivity. These findings provide insights into the regulation of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, identify a modification of this critical immune checkpoint, and highlight a predictive biomarker of the response to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade therapy.

Efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced non-small cell lung cancer harboring BRAF mutations.

Background: Despite immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) being widely used to treat patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), few studies examine the role of ICI in patients with proto-oncogene B-Raf, serine/threonine kinase (BRAF) mutations. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted for patients with BRAF-mutant NSCLC who received treatment at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital between 2014 and 2022. Primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary end point was best response (RECIST, version 1.1). Results: The study involved a total of 34 patients with 54 treatments recorded. The median PFS for the whole cohort was 5.8 months and the overall objective response rate (ORR) was 24%. Patients who were treated with ICI combined with chemotherapy reported a median PFS of 12.6 months and an ORR of 44%. Those who were treated with non-ICI therapy came with a median PFS of 5.3 months and an ORR of 14%. Specifically, patients had better clinical benefits with first-line ICI-combined therapy. The PFS was 18.5 months whereas that of non-ICI group was 4.1 months. The ORR was 56% in ICI-combined group and 10% in non-ICI cohort. Conclusions: The findings observed an evidential and significant susceptibility to ICIs combined therapy in patients with BRAF-mutant NSCLC, especially in first-line treatment.

Advanced lung adenocarcinoma patient with EGFR exon 20 insertion benefits from high-dose furmonertinib for nine months after progression from mobocertinib: a case report.

Background: The treatment landscape of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation has significantly changed in the past decade. However, EGFR exon 20 insertion (20ins), which accounts for at least 9% of all EGFR mutated cases, has been generally associated with resistance to common EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). In recent years, major progress has been made in the precision treatment of NSCLC harboring EGFR exon 20ins, thanks to the development of TKIs and mAb-based agents specifically targeting EGFR 20ins. However, the efficacy of these novel agents, such as mobocertinib and amivantamab, is not quite satisfactory. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify other effective targeted drugs. Case Description: Herein, we describe a case with EGFR 20ins diagnosed by amplification refractory mutation system polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR) who benefited from high-dose (160 mg/d comparing with Phase II recommended dose 80 mg/d) furmonertinib, a novel third-generation EGFR TKI, after progression from mobocertinib. A 58-year-old male was referred to our clinic with multiple lung lesions detected in computed tomography (CT) scanning. The patient participated in a phase I/II trial (NCT02716116) receiving TAK-788 and was confirmed with partial response at follow-up. Intriguingly, after progression from 9 months of TAK-788 treatment, the patient still showed response to furmonertinib. The progression free survival was 10 months with no complications or adverse events observed. The overall survival was 34 months till last follow-up in March, 2022. The patient is still in follow-up. Conclusions: Supported by this case and data from other studies, the potency of furmonertinib warrants further evaluation in patients with EGFR 20ins, especially those pretreated with TKIs.

ICI plus chemotherapy prolonged survival over ICI alone in patients with previously treated advanced NSCLC.

OBJECTIVES: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) monotherapy was standard of care in second-line treatment of patients with advance non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aims to investigate the efficacy of ICI plus chemotherapy in patients with previously treated advanced NSCLC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An investigator-initiated trial (IIT) aiming to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ICI in combination with chemotherapy as second line and beyond for patients with advanced NSCLC was undergone at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital (ChiCTR1900026203). Patients who received ICI monotherapy as second or later line setting during the same period were also collected as a comparator. RESULTS: From April 2018 to June 2019, 31 patients were included into this IIT study, simultaneously 51 patients treated with ICI monotherapy were selected as a comparator. ICI plus chemotherapy showed a significantly higher ORR (35.5% vs. 15.7%, p=0.039), prolonged PFS (median: 5.6 vs. 2.5 months, p = 0.013) and OS (median: NE vs. 12.6 months, p = 0.038) compared with ICI alone. In the subgroup of negative PD-L1 expression (9 patients in combination group and 12 patients in monotherapy group), ICI plus chemotherapy also had a favorable ORR (44.4% vs. 8.3%, p = 0.119), longer PFS (median: 6.5 vs 3.0 months, p < 0.05) and OS (median: NE vs. 8.2 months, p = 0.117). Meanwhile, the addition of chemotherapy did not increase immune-related adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: ICI plus chemotherapy showed superior ORR, PFS and OS than ICI alone patients with previous treated advanced NSCLC. These findings warrant further investigation.

Prognostic significance of postoperative longitudinal change of serum carcinoembryonic antigen level in patients with stage I lung adenocarcinoma completely resected by single-port video-assisted thoracic surgery: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with stage I lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) have varying postoperative prognosis. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of postoperative longitudinal change of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level in patients with stage I LUAD. METHODS: The study cohort comprised 241 patients with stage I LUAD completely resected with single-port video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). The patients were categorized into 4 groups according to the postoperative longitudinal change of serum CEA levels measured in the third and sixth months after surgery: the NN group (continuously normal), HN group (increase first and then decrease), NH group (decrease first and then increase), and HH group (continuously high). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by log-rank test. A nomogram was developed to predict recurrence in the stage I LUAD patients. RESULTS: In univariate analysis, differentiation (P<0.001), visceral pleural invasion (VPI) (P=0.025), tumor diameter (P<0.001), tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (P=0.008), preoperative CEA levels (≥10.0 vs. <10.0 ng/mL, P<0.001), and postoperative CEA grouping (NH/HH vs. NN/HN, P<0.001) were significant prognostic factors for stage I LUAD patients. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor diameter (P=0.009) and postoperative CEA grouping (P<0.001) were considered to be independent prognostic factors of postoperative recurrence of stage I LUAD. Tumor diameter (≥20 mm) and postoperative CEA (NH/HH vs. NN/HN) were associated with worse RFS. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that postoperative CEA (NH/HH vs. NN/HN) have high sensitivity (64.7%) and specificity (83.2%) for early prediction of postoperative recurrence of stage I LUAD. The area under curve (AUC) value was 0.745. The nomogram based on multivariate Cox regression had a concordance index (value of 0.789). The calibration plot showed that the predicted probabilities closely matched the observed probabilities. CONCLUSIONS: Longitudinal change in serum CEA level after surgery was found to be an independent unfavorable prognostic factor in completely resected stage I LUAD patients. The NH group and HH group were significantly associated with worse RFS. A nomogram was established to predict the postoperative recurrence of patients with stage I LUAD.

Alterations of DNA damage response pathway: Biomarker and therapeutic strategy for cancer immunotherapy.

Genomic instability remains an enabling feature of cancer and promotes malignant transformation. Alterations of DNA damage response (DDR) pathways allow genomic instability, generate neoantigens, upregulate the expression of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and interact with signaling such as cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of interferon genes (cGAS-STING) signaling. Here, we review the basic knowledge of DDR pathways, mechanisms of genomic instability induced by DDR alterations, impacts of DDR alterations on immune system, and the potential applications of DDR alterations as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in cancer immunotherapy.

Collection on reports of molecules linked to epithelial-mesenchymal transition in the process of treating metastasizing cancer: a narrative review.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a morphological process in which epithelial cells transform into mesenchymal cells via a specific procedure. EMT plays an important role in the cancer invasion-metastasis cascade and the current treatment of metastatic cancer, influences the migration, polarity, and adhesion of tumor cells, promotes their migration, invasiveness, anti-apoptotic ability. It contributes to the changes of the tumor microenvironment and suppresses the sensitivity of tumor cells to chemotherapy, causing cancer metastasis and worse, hindering the control and therapy of it. This paper reviews the mechanisms, detection, and treatments of cancer metastasis that have been identified and applied to date, summarizes the EMT-related biological molecules, providing a reference for EMT-targeted research and therapy. As EMT is significant in the progress of tumor metastasis, it is meaningful for the therapy and control of metastatic cancer to understand the mechanism of EMT at the molecular level. We summarized the mechanisms, detection and therapeutic implications of EMT, listed the research progress of molecules like genes, miRNAs, signaling pathways in EMT. We also discussed the prospects of EMT-targeted treatment in cancer metastasis interventions and the challenges the treatment and researches are facing. The summary is conducive to the treatment and further research of EMT and metastatic cancer.

Adenocarcinoma of High-Grade Patterns Associated with Distinct Outcome of First-Line Chemotherapy or EGFR-TKIs in Patients of Relapsed Lung Cancer.

PURPOSE: High-grade patterns (micropapillary/solid/complex gland) are associated with a higher recurrence rate and shorter disease-free survival. Thus far, it remains unclear whether the efficacy of first-line anticancer therapy is different from that of the other adenocarcinoma subgroups for patients with high-grade patterns. The study aimed to investigate the association between an adenocarcinoma with high-grade patterns with the outcomes of first-line treatment in patients with lung cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with a high-grade pattern adenocarcinoma (more than 20% of micropapillary/solid components/complex glandular patterns) were retrospectively analyzed between June 2015 and June 2017. Patients' clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes were compared with those of the remaining control adenocarcinoma subgroups. RESULTS: In total, 239 patients with adenocarcinoma, including 115 (48.1%) high-grade patterns and 124 (51.9%) control groups, were enrolled. Patients' clinical characteristics such as age, sex, smoking status, and stage were similar between the two groups. Among them, 108 patients received first-line chemotherapy, and 131 received epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). In the chemotherapy group, adenocarcinoma of high-grade patterns had a significantly lower objective response rate (ORR; 15.6% vs 36.4%, P=0.045), shorter progression-free survival (PFS; median 4.1 vs 5.4 months, P=0.007) and overall survival (OS, median 19.6 vs 23.8 months, P=0.048) compared with the control group. As for these treated with EGFR-TKIs, a similar ORR (70.7% vs 72.1%, P=0.703), PFS (median 11.3 vs 13.9 months, P=0.065) and OS (median 34.1 vs 29.6%, p=0.575) were observed between these two groups. CONCLUSION: An adenocarcinoma with high-grade patterns is associated with inferior outcomes to first-line chemotherapy in relapsed lung cancer. Patients who received chemotherapy had a significantly shorter PFS and OS and lower ORR than control subjects, while there was no difference in the EGFR-TKI cohort. This study is the first to report the distribution of adenocarcinoma with high-grade patterns.

High discrepancy in thrombotic events in non-small cell lung cancer patients with different genomic alterations.

BACKGROUND: Acute complications, such as venous thromboembolism (VTE), are common in patients with advanced severe lung cancers. However, current VTE risk scores cannot adequately identify high-risk patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The study proposed to elucidated the incidence of thromboembolism (TE) in patients with different oncogenic aberrations and the impact of these aberrations on the efficacy of targeted therapy in patients with NSCLC. METHODS: A systemic review was conducted in Web of Science, PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library to evaluate the incidence of TE in different molecular subtypes of NSCLC. Data from patients diagnosed of advanced NSCLC who harboring anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) or ROS proto-oncogene 1 receptor tyrosine kinase (ROS1) rearrangements since 2016 to 2019 were also retrospectively collected. A meta-analysis with random-effects model, sensitivity analysis and publication bias were performed. The principal summary measure was incidence of thrombotic events in NSCLC patients. And the efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy was compared between the two subgroups. RESULTS: A total of 5,767 cases from 20 studies were included in the analysis of the incidence of thrombosis in patients with different oncogenic alterations. The pooled analysis showed a higher risk of thrombosis in ROS1-fusion types (41%, 95% CI: 35-47%) and ALK-fusion types (30%, 95% CI: 24-37%) than in EGFR-mutation (12%, 95% CI: 8-17%), KRAS-mutation (25%, 95% CI: 13-50%), and wild-type (14%, 95% CI: 10-20%) cases. A high prevalence of thrombosis (ALK: 24.4%; ROS1: 32.6%) was observed in the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital (SPH) cohort of 224 patients with ALK or ROS1 fusion. Furthermore, patients with embolism had significantly shorter progression-free survival (PFS) after TKI therapy than those without embolism, both in the ALK+ cohort (5.6 vs. 12.9 months, P<0.0001) and in the ROS1+ cohort (9.6 vs. 17.6 months, P=0.0481). CONCLUSIONS: NSCLC patients with ALK/ROS1 rearrangements are more likely to develop thrombosis than patients with other oncogenic alterations. Thrombosis may also be associated with an inferior response and PFS after TKI therapy.

Research progress on the molecular mechanisms of hepatic metastasis in lung cancer: a narrative review.

The liver is one of the most common sites of metastatic spread of lung cancer, and the process of metastasis is regulated by many factors. A number of genes, including multiple tumor suppressor 1 (mts1), p120 catenin, and CT45A1, increase the possibility of hepatic metastasis in lung cancer, whereas Tip30/CC3, CUL5, and SOCS3 expression in lung tumors inhibit tumor metastasis. microRNAs (miRNAs), such as miRNA-126, miRNA-338, and miRNA-218, can affect the metastasis of lung cancer cells to the liver. The D114-Notch signaling pathway can inhibit liver metastasis in small cell lung cancer. Serum tumor markers cytokeratin 19 fragment antigen 21-1 and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) are closely related to the risk of hepatic metastasis in lung cancer. Based on previously published literature, we found that the metastasis and invasion of lung cancer to the liver are determined by molecular factors. Therefore, the selective identification and intervention of these erroneous signals can predict early lung cancer metastasis to the liver. In this review article, we describe the mechanisms and influencing factors (genes, signal pathways, chemicals, proteins, miRNAs) of hepatic metastasis in lung cancer. We hope to provide a summary of the evidence for the mechanisms by which related genes or proteins affect the malignancy of liver metastasis from lung cancer so that doctors and researchers can improve treatment options.

Patients With Short PFS to EGFR-TKIs Predicted Better Response to Subsequent Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Based Immunotherapy in EGFR Common Mutation NSCLC.

BACKGROUND: Despite disappointing outcomes from immuno-monotherapy, studies reported that NSCLC patients with EGFR mutation may possibly benefit from combined immunotherapy. Whether the response to prior EGFR-TKI has association with the outcomes of subsequent immunotherapy remains unclear. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Advanced NSCLC patients with resistance to EGFR-TKIs and received ICI treatment from January 2016 to June 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Single cell sequencing and flow cytometry were conducted to explore the difference of cell components in tumor microenvironments (TME). A 1:3 matched case-control study was conducted to compare the clinical effects of combined immunotherapy with standard chemotherapy as second-line treatment. RESULTS: Fifty-eight patients treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 based immunotherapy behind EGFR-TKI treatment were enrolled. Correlation analysis showed TKI-PFS had a significantly negative association with corresponding IO-PFS (r = -0.35, p = 0.006). TKI-PFS cutoff 10 months had the most significant predictive function for posterior immunotherapy and was validated to be an independent predictor by uni- and multivariate analyses. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with TKI-PFS less than 10 months had significantly prolonged IO-PFS and higher ORR than those with long (median PFS, 15.1 vs 3.8 months; HR, 0.26, p = 0.0002; ORR, 31.8 versus 10%, p = 0.04). Single cell RNA-seq revealed that the cell components were varied among patients after treatment with EGFR-TKI. Patients with short TKI-PFS demonstrated a relatively higher proportion of CD8 effector cells and lower ratio of M2 like macrophage to M1 like macrophages, which was validated by flow cytometry. Case-control study demonstrated that combined immunotherapy achieved significantly longer PFS (HR, 0.51, 95% CI: 0.31-0.85, p = 0.02), longer OS (HR, 0.48, 95% CI: 0.26-0.89, p = 0.05) and higher ORR (33.3 vs 10.0%, p = 0.02) than traditional chemotherapy for patients with short TKI-PFS. CONCLUSION: Patients with short TKI-PFS conferred better response to immunotherapy than those with long. The status of TME were different among those two populations. Combined ICI treatment could promisingly be a better choice than classical chemotherapy in second-line setting for patients with short TKI-PFS and no T790M mutation. Underlying mechanisms need to be further explored.

Aberrant methylation modifications reflect specific drug responses in small cell lung cancer.

In the study, Methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing, RNA sequencing, and whole-exome sequencing were employed to clinical small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients. Then, we verified the therapeutic predictive effects of differentially methylated genes (DMGs) in 62 SCLC cell lines. Of 4552 DMGs between chemo-sensitive and chemo-insensitive group, coding genes constituted the largest percentage (85.08%), followed by lncRNAs (10.52%) and miRNAs (3.56%). Both two groups demonstrated two methylation peaks near transcription start site and transcription end site. Two lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks suggested the extensive genome connection between chemotherapy efficacy-related non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and mRNAs. Combing miRNAs and lncRNAs could effectively predict chemotherapy response in SCLC. In addition, we also verified the predictive values of mutated genes in SCLC cell lines. This study was the first to evaluate multiple drugs efficacy-related ncRNAs and mRNAs which were modified by methylation in SCLC. DMGs identified in our research might serve as promising therapeutic targets to reverse drugs-insensitivity by complex lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA mechanisms in SCLC.

Early diagnosis of lung cancer: which is the optimal choice?

The prognosis of lung cancer patients with different clinical stages is significantly different. The 5-year survival of stage IA groups can exceed 90%, while patients with stage IV can be less than 10%. Therefore, early diagnosis is extremely important for lung cancer patients. This research focused on various diagnosis methods of early lung cancer, including imaging screening, bronchoscopy, and emerging potential liquid biopsies, as well as volatile organic compounds, autoantibodies, aiming to improve the early diagnosis rate and explore feasible and effective early diagnosis strategies.

CD39: the potential target in small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: It has been proven that the treatment window of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is short, so it is vital to find other possible therapeutic targets. CD39 inhibits natural killer (NK) cells and promotes the occurrence and metastasis of tumors. There has been little research about the role of CD39 in SCLC, so we explored the correlation between CD39 and other surface antigens, and its association with survival in SCLC. METHODS: This study included 75 patients with SCLC from Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital. After paraffin embedding and sectioning, immunohistochemistry (IHC) was applied. Then we identify cutoff value for CD39 and other surface antigens based on the analysis of ROC curve in RFS by SPSS. All statistical analyses were based on SPSS and Graphpad Prism8. Chi-square test, Kendall's tau-b correlation analysis, Logistic regression analysis, Kaplan-Meier method, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were conducted. In all analyses, P = 0.05 distinguished whether they had statistical significance. RESULTS: Of the 75 SCLC patients enrolled in this study, 61.33% positively expressed CD39. A correlation between CD39 and programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) (P=0.007), CD3 (P<0.001), CD4 (P<0.001), CD8 (P<0.001), and forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) (P<0.001) on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was identified by correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis. Based on Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, we found that CD39 affected relapse-free survival (RFS) [negative vs. positive, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.2765-0.9862, P=0.0390]. SCLC patients with high-expressed CD39 and low-expressed PD-L1 had poor prognosis (P<0.001). Positive expression of CD39 and negative expression of CD3, CD4, CD8, and FOXP3 also indicated shorter RFS (P=0.0409). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed to confirm the factors that influenced RFS. CONCLUSIONS: CD39, programmed cell death-1 (PD-1), and PD-L1 expressed on TILs but not on tumor cells. CD39 has a significant association with PD-L1, CD3, CD4, CD8, and FOXP3 on TILs. The positive expression of CD39 predicts poor prognosis. SCLC patients with low expression of CD39 combined with high expression of PD-L1 or CD3, CD4, CD8, and FOXP3 have a more favorable prognosis.

Hypoproteinemia being a manifestation of immunotherapy-related liver dysfunction.

Immunotherapy has changed the pattern of treatment in cancer. The interaction between programmed death-1 (PD-1) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibits the activation of T cells, and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors can increase the immune response to cancer cells by inducing the immune cells, which has become an important clinical method to treat cancer. However, the alteration in the activation of T cells might lead to misidentification between the body's own cells and tumor cells and induce immune-related adverse events (IRAEs), such as pneumonitis, liver dysfunction, rash, colitis, nephritis, and endocrinopathies. And the IRAEs might lead to serious consequences. Studies have reported that PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor-related hepatotoxicity is one of these adverse events. Most of the studies reported that hepatitis resulting from PD-1 inhibitor was manifested as elevated liver enzymes and bilirubin. Quite a few patients experienced lower degree of hepatotoxicity treated with checkpoint inhibitors, which indicated that it was necessary to focus on immunotherapy-related liver dysfunction. Here, we report a case of immunotherapy-related liver dysfunction with hypoproteinemia as the first manifestation under the treatment of PD-1 inhibitors combined with chemotherapy. This case suggests that hypoproteinemia was one of the manifestations of immunotherapy-related liver dysfunction, which helps us better understand the immunotherapy-related disease.

Expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 on Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Predicts Prognosis in Patients with Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Immune therapy has shown good results in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), but the impact of immune microenvironment of the disease is unclear. In this work, we detected expression of programmed death 1 (PD-1), PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1), and other immune biomarkers of cancer. We also analyzed the correlations between these markers and survival in SCLC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Protein expression of PD-1, PD-L1, PD-L2, CD3, CD4, CD8, and FOXP3 was analyzed in surgical tissues from 102 SCLC patients by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Positive expression of PD-1 on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was found in 40.2% of patients; 37.3% of patients showed positive expression of PD-L1 on TILs; and 3.9% showed positive expression of PD-L1 on tumor cells. PD-L2 protein was not expressed on tumor cells or TILs. Survival analysis showed that positive expression of PD-L1 on TILs was correlated with longer relapse-free survival (RFS) (p=0.004). Positive expression of PD-1 combined with a high ratio of lymphocytes (CD3, p=0.004; CD4, p=0.011; CD8, p=0.009; FOXP3, p=0.009) was associated with significantly better RFS than negative expression of PD-1 combined with a lower ratio of lymphocytes. Positive expression of PD-L1 combined with a high ratio of lymphocytes (CD3, p<0.001; CD4, p=0.001; CD8, p=0.002; FOXP3, p=0.001) was associated with significantly better RFS than negative expression of PD-L1 combined with a lower ratio of lymphocytes. All patients' stage were between I and III. CONCLUSION: PD-1 and PD-L1 expression might be good prognostic factors in SCLC.