Factors associated with immunotherapy respond and survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients

This study aimed to explore factors associated with immunotherapy respond and survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC) patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).

A total of 101 patients with aNSCLC receiving ICIs were included. The association between clinical factors and multiple endpoints including objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were investigated by multivariate analyses.

Multivariate logistic analyses revealed that clinical stage, lactate dehydrogena (LDH), and any grade immune-related adverse events (irAEs) were independent predictors of ORR, while LDH and ICIs treatment type were independent predictors of DCR. In Multivariate Cox analysis, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS), LDH, albumin (Alb), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and any grade irAEs were independent factors for OS. Similarly, clinical stage, LDH, Alb, and any grade irAEs were independent factors for PFS. Pre-treatment prognostic score was established based on clinical stage, ECOG PS, LDH, Alb and PLR to classify patients into three groups: the good group (0-1 score), the intermediate group (2 scores) and the poor group (3-4 scores). The immunotherapy response was significantly different in various prognostic groups. Subset analyses showed pre-treatment prognostic score ≥ 3 tended to have a strong negative impact on survival among patients with programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression ≥ 50%.

Pre-treatment prognostic score based on clinical stage, ECOG PS, LDH, Alb and PLR may help to identify aNSCLC patients who may benefit from ICIs.