Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 16, 2026

Intramucosal Inoculation of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells in Mice for Tumor Immune Profiling and Treatment Response Assessment
Published on: April 22, 2019
Tumor immune dynamics and long-term clinical outcome of stage IIIA NSCLC patients treated with neoadjuvant
Dominic Schmid1,2, Bettina Sobottka3, Massimiliano Manzo4
1Laboratory of Cancer Immunology, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. dominic.schmid@unibas.ch.
Abstract:
Neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy offers promise to improve outcomes for patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Yet not all patients derive treatment benefits, and reliable biomarkers of response are still lacking. We here assess the long-term clinical outcome of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and perioperative anti-PD-L1 inhibition in resectable stage IIIA NSCLC in the SAKK 16/14 trial and provide a comprehensive characterization of anti-tumor immune responses for biomarker-based treatment personalization. We report secondary outcomes of median event-free survival (EFS) of 4.0 years and median overall survival not being reached after a median follow-up of 5.4 years. Computer-aided spatial image analysis emphasizes the importance of CD8+ T cell positioning in tumors, and larger tertiary lymphoid structures in pre-treatment biopsies correlate with improved EFS. Genomic techniques reveal the association of intratumoral TCR diversity with response. Finally, circulating proliferating CD39+ PD-1+ CD8+ T cells and elevated levels of CCL15 post-treatment are seen in patients with sustained therapeutic benefit. NCT02572843.
Related Concept Videos
Tumor Immunotherapy
The Tumor Microenvironment
Tumor Progression
Colon cancer is one of the best-documented examples of tumor progression. Early mutation in the APC gene in colon cells causes a small growth on the colon wall called a polyp. With time, this polyp grows into a benign, pre-cancerous tumor. Further...
Treatment Resistant Cancers

