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Updated: Feb 1, 2026

Multidimensional Coculture System to Model Lung Squamous Carcinoma Progression
Published on: March 17, 2020
[An elderly case of squamous cell lung cancer treated continuously with pembrolizumab without any decline in the life
Manami Sazuka1, Yoko Murano2, Kazufumi Takada1
1Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital.
Background:
Whether or not immune checkpoint inhibitors are safe and effective for the elderly remains unclear, even though these drugs were approved two years ago for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer in Japan. Older cancer patients are vulnerable to chemotherapy, so their life function should be closely monitored before starting, continuing, or discontinuing cancer treatment.
Case:
An 85-year-old man showed a wedge-shaped shadow in the apical portion of the left lung on chest computed tomography. Unfortunately, repeated bronchoscopy revealed no malignancy. The shadow progressed over about one year, so a third bronchoscopy was performed, leading to a diagnosis of squamous-cell carcinoma (cT3N2M1a, stage IVA). Because PD-L1 immunohistochemical staining was positive for 80%-90% of the tumor cells, the patient was treated with pembrolizumab as the first-line therapy, and the tumor dramatically regressed, notably without any decline in the patient's life functions.
Conclusion:
An elderly case of squamous-cell lung cancer was treated continuously with pembrolizumab without any decline in the patient's life function.
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