Journal for immunotherapy of cancer
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J Immunother Cancer · May 2019
Neurologic toxicity associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: a pharmacovigilance study.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) produce durable antitumor responses but provoke autoimmune toxicities, including uncommon but potentially devastating neurologic toxicities. The clinical features, including the spectrum, timing, and outcomes, of ICI-induced neurologic toxicities are not well characterized. ⋯ ICIs produce a spectrum of distinct classes of neurologic AEs that can cause significant morbidity and mortality and tend to occur early and with class-specific associations.
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J Immunother Cancer · May 2019
The promise of Immuno-oncology: implications for defining the value of cancer treatment.
The rapid development of immuno-oncology (I-O) therapies for multiple types of cancer has transformed the cancer treatment landscape and brightened the long-term outlook for many patients with advanced cancer. Responding to ongoing efforts to generate value assessments for novel therapies, multiple stakeholders have been considering the question of "What makes I-O transformative?" Evaluating the distinct features and attributes of these therapies, and better characterizing how patients experience them, will inform such assessments. ⋯ The paper concludes with a "data needs catalogue" (DNC) predicated on the belief that multiple key, unique elements that are necessary to fully characterize the value of I-O therapies are not routinely or robustly measured in current clinical practice or reimbursement databases and are infrequently captured in existing research studies. A better characterization of the benefit of I-O treatment will allow a more thorough assessment of its benefits and provide a template for the design and prioritization of future clinical trials and a roadmap for healthcare insurers to optimize coverage for patients with cancers eligible for I-O therapy.
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J Immunother Cancer · May 2019
Automated image analysis of NSCLC biopsies to predict response to anti-PD-L1 therapy.
Immune checkpoint therapies (ICTs) targeting the programmed cell death-1 (PD1)/programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) pathway have improved outcomes for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), particularly those with high PD-L1 expression. However, the predictive value of manual PD-L1 scoring is imperfect and alternative measures are needed. We report an automated image analysis solution to determine the predictive and prognostic values of the product of PD-L1+ cell and CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) densities (CD8xPD-L1 signature) in baseline tumor biopsies. ⋯ An automated CD8xPD-L1 signature may help to identify NSCLC patients with improved response to durvalumab therapy. Our data also support the prognostic value of CD8+ TILS in NSCLC patients who do not receive ICT.
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J Immunother Cancer · May 2019
Case series of cancer patients who developed cholecystitis related to immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) represent a promising novel class of cancer therapy, but immune-mediated adverse events can complicate ICI treatment. Acute cholecystitis in patients receiving ICI therapy has not been characterized. We aimed to describe the clinical features of patients who developed ICI-related cholecystitis. ⋯ ICI treatment can result in a clinical condition similar to typical acute cholecystitis in a minority of patients. ICI-related cholecystitis should be managed in a similar fashion to typical cholecystitis. The efficacy of steroids for the treatment of ICI-related cholecystitis is unclear.
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J Immunother Cancer · May 2019
Meta AnalysisFirst-line treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma and high PD-L1 expression: pembrolizumab or pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy.
Pembrolizumab monotherapy has become the preferred treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and a programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) tumor proportion score (TPS) of at least 50%. However, little is known about the value of adding chemotherapy to pembrolizumab in this setting. Therefore, we performed an indirect comparison for pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy versus pembrolizumab, using the frequentist methods. ⋯ Indirect comparison showed that pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy was superior to pembrolizumab alone, in terms of ORR (RR 1.62, 1.18-2.23) and PFS (HR 0.55, 0.32-0.97). A trend towards improved OS was also observed (HR 0.76, 0.51-1.14). In conclusion, the addition of chemotherapy to pembrolizumab further improves the outcomes of patients with advanced NSCLC and a PD-L1 TPS of at least 50%.