Prognostic Significance and Emerging Predictive Potential of Interleukin-1β Expression in Oncogene-Driven NSCLC

Purpose: Preclinical studies suggest that interleukin-1β (IL-1β) influences tumor behavior in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While the CANTOS trial demonstrated reduced lung cancer incidence with IL-1β inhibition, the CANOPY trials failed to show survival benefit when combined with chemoimmunotherapy. The role of IL-1β in NSCLC with oncogenic mutations remains unclear. We evaluated the prognostic and predictive significance of IL-1β expression across NSCLC subtypes. Methods: We analyzed 21,698 NSCLC tumors profiled by Caris Life Sciences using DNA and RNA next-generation sequencing. IL-1β expression was stratified into quartiles (Q1: lowest 25%, Q4: highest 25%). Real-world overall survival (OS) and time on treatment (TOT) were obtained from insurance claims. Statistical comparisons used Chi-square, Fisher's exact, or Mann-Whitney U tests. Survival outcomes were assessed with Cox models. Results: Across unselected NSCLC patients, low IL-1β expression (Q1) was associated with modestly longer OS versus high expression (Q4) (median OS 19.5 vs. 17.4 months; HR 0.94; p < 0.0001). This effect was more pronounced in EGFR-mutant adenocarcinoma (36.7 vs. 27.2 months; HR 0.76; p < 0.001) and ALK fusion-positive NSCLC (53.0 vs. 35.2 months; HR 0.62; p = 0.002). In NSCLC without targetable mutations, IL-1β expression was not prognostic. In KRAS-mutant adenocarcinoma, high IL-1β expression was associated with modestly longer TOT on immunotherapy (7.4 vs. 6.4 months; HR 1.15; p = 0.041), but not OS. High IL-1β expression correlated positively with TP53 mutation, TMB-high, and PD-L1 expression and inversely with EGFR, KRAS, BRAF, ERBB2, KEAP1, and STK11 mutations. Conclusions: IL-1β expression is a potential prognostic and predictive biomarker in NSCLC, associated with survival outcomes in defined molecular subsets. These findings suggest that IL-1β-targeted strategies may be particularly relevant in EGFR- or ALK-altered tumors.