Cited 13 times since 2022 (8.8 per year) source: EuropePMC Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Volume 28, Issue 22, 1 1 2022, Pages 4893-4906 PD-1T TILs as a Predictive Biomarker for Clinical Benefit to PD-1 Blockade in Patients with Advanced NSCLC. Hummelink K, van der Noort V, Muller M, Schouten RD, Lalezari F, Peters D, Theelen WSME, Koelzer VH, Mertz KD, Zippelius A, van den Heuvel MM, Broeks A, Haanen JBAG, Schumacher TN, Meijer GA, Smit EF, Monkhorst K, Thommen DS
Purpose
Durable clinical benefit to PD-1 blockade in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is currently limited to a small fraction of patients, underlining the need for predictive biomarkers. We recently identified a tumor-reactive tumor-infiltrating T lymphocyte (TIL) pool, termed PD-1T TILs, with predictive potential in NSCLC. Here, we examined PD-1T TILs as biomarker in NSCLC.
Experimental design
PD-1T TILs were digitally quantified in 120 baseline samples from advanced NSCLC patients treated with PD-1 blockade. Primary outcome was disease control (DC) at 6 months. Secondary outcomes were DC at 12 months and survival. Exploratory analyses addressed the impact of lesion-specific responses, tissue sample properties, and combination with other biomarkers on the predictive value of PD-1T TILs.
Results
PD-1T TILs as a biomarker reached 77% sensitivity and 67% specificity at 6 months, and 93% and 65% at 12 months, respectively. Particularly, a patient group without clinical benefit was reliably identified, indicated by a high negative predictive value (NPV) (88% at 6 months, 98% at 12 months). High PD-1T TILs related to significantly longer progression-free (HR 0.39, 95% CI, 0.24-0.63, P < 0.0001) and overall survival (HR 0.46, 95% CI, 0.28-0.76, P < 0.01). Predictive performance was increased when lesion-specific responses and samples obtained immediately before treatment were assessed. Notably, the predictive performance of PD-1T TILs was superior to PD-L1 and tertiary lymphoid structures in the same cohort.
Conclusions
This study established PD-1T TILs as predictive biomarker for clinical benefit to PD-1 blockade in patients with advanced NSCLC. Most importantly, the high NPV demonstrates an accurate identification of a patient group without benefit. See related commentary by Anagnostou and Luke, p. 4835.
