Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 30, 2026
08:50
Predictive Immune Modeling of Solid Tumors
Published on: February 25, 2020
Correlation between patients' age and cancer immunotherapy efficacy
Qiong Wu1,2, Qiuhong Wang2, Xin Tang3
1Medical school, Nantong university, Nantong, P.R. China.
Oncoimmunology
|March 26, 2019
Summary
Age impacts cancer immunotherapy effectiveness. Older patients (≥65 years) may benefit more from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) than younger patients, showing a clinically age-dependent response in overall survival and progression-free survival.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Immunology
- Geriatrics
Background:
- Patient age significantly influences immune function, but its effect on immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) efficacy is understudied.
- Immunosenescence, the aging of the immune system, may alter responses to cancer immunotherapy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of patient age in the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for cancer treatment.
- To compare the effectiveness of ICIs between younger and older patient populations through meta-analysis.
Main Methods:
- A systematic literature search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, and MEDLINE for relevant randomized controlled trials.
- Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were primary and secondary outcomes, respectively.
- Interaction tests assessed heterogeneity in hazard ratios (HR) between younger and older patient groups.
Main Results:
- Nineteen randomized controlled trials with 11,157 patients were analyzed.
- ICIs significantly improved OS and PFS in both younger (OS HR: 0.73, PFS HR: 0.63) and older patients (OS HR: 0.64, PFS HR: 0.66) compared to controls.
- A significant difference in OS efficacy was observed between younger and older patients (Pheterogeneity = 0.025), indicating an age-dependent benefit.
Conclusions:
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors offer significant survival benefits for both younger and older cancer patients.
- The magnitude of benefit from ICIs is clinically age-dependent, with patients aged 65 and older potentially experiencing greater advantages.
- Future research should consider age as a critical factor in clinical trials and investigate ICI tolerance and toxicity in elderly populations.
Related Concept Videos
01:27Tumor Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a treatment that boosts or manipulates the immune system to fight diseases, including cancer. For instance, by stimulating an immune response through vaccinations against viruses that cause cancers, like hepatitis B virus and human papillomavirus, these diseases can be prevented. Nonetheless, some cancer cells can avoid the immune system due to their rapid mutation and division. The immune response to many cancers involves three phases: elimination, equilibrium, and escape.
01:30Cancer Vaccines
Cancer treatment vaccines are a rapidly evolving field that offers a promising approach to immunotherapy. Unlike traditional vaccines that prevent diseases, cancer treatment vaccines are designed to treat existing cancers by stimulating the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.
Cancer vaccines come in two categories: preventive (prophylactic) and treatment (active). Preventive vaccines, such as the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, protect against viruses that cause certain...
Cancer vaccines come in two categories: preventive (prophylactic) and treatment (active). Preventive vaccines, such as the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, protect against viruses that cause certain...
01:22Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Absorption
As individuals age, their body's physiology evolves, affecting drug pharmacokinetics. The most apparent changes occur in the gastrointestinal tract, where an increase in gastric pH, a delay in gastric emptying, and a reduction in gastrointestinal motility are observed. Remarkably, these changes do not substantially modify the absorption of orally administered drugs, particularly those absorbed via passive diffusion.Transdermal drug delivery emerges as a highly viable method for older adults due...
01:18Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Excretion
In geriatric patients, renal physiology undergoes significant changes, including diminished renal blood flow and a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR), leading to alterations in medication clearance. Drugs such as aminoglycoside antibiotics, lithium, and digoxin, which rely on glomerular filtration for removal from the body, particularly impact pharmacokinetics. These drugs tend to have slower clearance rates in older adults, necessitating careful dosage considerations.Evaluation of renal...
01:27Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age
Age-related pharmacokinetic changes are extensively documented, but understanding age-related pharmacodynamic alterations is relatively limited. This knowledge gap can be partly attributed to the complexity of developing appropriate measures of drug responses compared to bioanalytical methods for determining drug concentrations.Most information regarding age-related differences in human pharmacodynamics originates from cross-sectional studies. However, these studies assume that observed mean...
01:21Cancer Survival Analysis
Cancer survival analysis focuses on quantifying and interpreting the time from a key starting point, such as diagnosis or the initiation of treatment, to a specific endpoint, such as remission or death. This analysis provides critical insights into treatment effectiveness and factors that influence patient outcomes, helping to shape clinical decisions and guide prognostic evaluations. A cornerstone of oncology research, survival analysis tackles the challenges of skewed, non-normally...