Frontiers in Immunology (Oct 2022)

The efficacy and safety analysis of first-line immune checkpoint inhibitors in pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma

  • Zhimin Zeng,
  • Zhimin Zeng,
  • Zhimin Zeng,
  • Xiaoying Qian,
  • Xiaoying Qian,
  • Fanrong Liu,
  • Yong Wang,
  • Yong Wang,
  • Yong Yuan,
  • Chen Fang,
  • Chen Fang,
  • Xinwei Zhang,
  • Xinwei Zhang,
  • Shangkun Yuan,
  • Shangkun Yuan,
  • Renfang Chen,
  • Renfang Chen,
  • Biao Yu,
  • Biao Yu,
  • Tong Wang,
  • Tong Wang,
  • Yan Yin,
  • Yong Li,
  • Yong Li,
  • Anwen Liu,
  • Anwen Liu,
  • Anwen Liu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.956982
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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BackgroundPulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) is a rare and aggressive disease without standardized treatment strategies. The efficacy of second-line or beyond immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has been proven in recent studies, whereas the evidence for first-line immunotherapy for PSC is still limited to case reports and remains poorly understood.Materials and methodsThis was a multicenter, retrospective analysis of 21 patients with a histological diagnosis of PSC who received ICI as first-line therapy from January 2019 to March 2022. The expression of PD-L1 was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using the monoclonal antibody 22C3. Low and high PD-L1 expressions were defined using the tumor proportion score (TPS), with cutoffs of 1 and 50%, respectively.ResultsAll eight patients had PD-L1 positivity who underwent PD-L1 expression assessment, and six patients (6/8, 75.0%) had high PD-L1 expression. Among the 21 PSC patients, seven received tislelizumab, six received camrelizumab, four received sintilimab, three received pembrolizumab, and one received durvalumab. Among them, 18 PSCs received combination therapy, whereas another three PSCs received immunotherapy alone. Out of the 21 PSC patients, 12 (57.1%) achieved a partial response (PR), and five patients had stable disease (SD) as the best response, whereas four PSCs experienced dramatic progressive disease (PD). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 9.2 (95% CI [4.3, 14.1]) months, and the median OS was 22.8 (95% CI [4.0, 41.5]) months. Among the three treatment groups (immunotherapy alone, immunotherapy combined with anlotinib, and chemoimmunotherapy), the median PFS was 8.0, 9.4, and 9.6 months, and the median OS was 19.0, 22.8, and 30.6 months, respectively. There was no difference in PFS and OS between the three treatment regimen groups (P = 0.86 and P = 0.34, respectively) and different immunotherapies (P = 0.10 and P = 0.23, respectively). No serious adverse events (grade ≥ 3) were noted.ConclusionFirst-line immunotherapy has promising therapeutic potential in the treatment of PSC. More studies are warranted to confirm these findings.

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