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. 2019 Mar-Apr;33(2):507-514.
doi: 10.21873/invivo.11503.

Analysis of Pleiotropic Effects of Nivolumab in Pretreated Advanced or Recurrent Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cases

Yumiko Akano #  1 , Kozo Kuribayashi #  2   3 , Norihiko Funaguchi  4 , Yuichi Koda  1 , Eriko Fujimoto  1 , Koji Mikami  1 , Toshiyuki Minami  1 , Ryo Takahashi  1 , Takashi Yokoi  1   3 , Takashi Kijima  1   3
Affiliations

Analysis of Pleiotropic Effects of Nivolumab in Pretreated Advanced or Recurrent Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cases

Yumiko Akano et al. In Vivo. 2019 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Background/aim: Nivolumab is an immune checkpoint inhibitor for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We investigated the safety and efficacy of nivolumab by analyzing the response factor, adverse effects (AE), and the post-treatment condition of pretreated advanced or recurrent NSCLC patients.

Patients and methods: Nivolumab (3 mg/kg) was administered to 79 pre-treated NSCLC patients from December 2015 to January 2018. Nivolumab efficacy and AE were assessed using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors and the Common Terminology Criteria, respectively.

Results: Progression-free survival (PFS) was significantly prolonged in cases where the therapeutic effect of the pretreatment was a partial response (p=0.0004). Five cases (6.3%) experienced grade 3-4 AEs. PFS was significantly prolonged in the skin rash group versus the non-skin rash group, and in patients where nivolumab treatment was discontinued.

Conclusions: Long-term survival was observed in patients with skin rash. Therapeutic effect of nivolumab immediately following its administration appears to be favorable for survival.

Keywords: Immune checkpoint inhibitor; durable response; immune-related adverse event; nivolumab; non-small cell lung cancer; programmed cell death ligand 1.

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Conflict of interest statement

The Authors have no conflicts of interest to declare regarding the contents of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Kaplan–Meier curve for median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) across all cases.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Kaplan-Meier curve for median progression-free survival period with respect to age (a), sex (b), histological classification (c), and epidermal growth factor receptor mutation and wild-type (WT) strain (d).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Comparison of progression-free survival (PFS) between non-smokers and smokers (a). Comparison of PFS for patients with a performance status (PS) score of 0-1 and 2 (b).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Comparison of progression-free survival (PFS) (a) and overall survival (OS) periods (b) between patients with and without skin rash.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Comparison of progression-free survival (a) and overall survival periods (b) between groups discontinued from nivolumab due to adverse events and progressive disease.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Kaplan–Meier curve for progression-free survival periods of pre-treated patients before Nivolumab. Partial response (PR), stable disease (SD), and progressive disease (PD).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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