Impact of DNA Damage Response and Repair (DDR) Gene Mutations on Efficacy of PD-(L)1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Purpose: DNA damage response and repair (DDR) gene alterations are associated with increased tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, higher genomic instability, and higher tumor mutational burden (TMB) in cancer. Whether DDR alterations are associated with clinical outcomes to programmed death ligand 1 [PD-(L)1] blockade in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unknown.

Experimental design: Tumors from patients treated with PD-(L)1 inhibitors were analyzed using targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS). Cancers were categorized on the basis of the presence or absence of deleterious mutations across a panel of 53 DDR genes. Clinical outcomes to PD-(L)1 inhibitors were evaluated according to DDR mutation status.

Results: Of 266 patients with successful NGS who received PD-(L)1 inhibitors, 132 (49.6%) were identified as having deleterious DDR mutations (DDR-positive). DDR-positive and DDR-negative groups were similar in terms of baseline clinicopathologic characteristics. The median TMB was significantly higher in the DDR-positive group compared with the DDR-negative group (12.1 vs. 7.6 mutations/megabase; P < 0.001). Compared with DDR-negative patients (N = 134), DDR-positive patients had a significantly higher objective response rate (30.3% vs. 17.2%; P = 0.01), longer median progression-free survival [PFS; 5.4 vs. 2.2 months; HR, 0.58 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.45-0.76); P < 0.001], and longer median overall survival [OS; 18.8 vs. 9.9 months; HR, 0.57 (95% CI, 0.42-0.77); P < 0.001] with PD-(L)1 therapy. After adjusting for PD-L1, TMB, performance status, tobacco use, and line of therapy, DDR-positive status was associated with a significantly longer PFS [HR, 0.68 (95% CI, 0.51-0.92); P = 0.01] and OS [HR, 0.60 (95% CI, 0.43-0.85); P = 0.004] in multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: Deleterious DDR mutations are frequent in NSCLC and are associated with improved clinical outcomes in patients with NSCLC treated with PD-(L)1 blockade.