Associations of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy efficacy with clinical parameters and tumor‑infiltrating CD68‑positive cell counts in patients with EGFR‑mutant non‑small cell lung cancer

• Published in: Molecular and clinical oncology Vol. 18; no. 5
• Main Authors: Tsuda, Takeshi, Suzuki, Kensuke, Inomata, Minehiko, Hayashi, Kana, Mizushima, Isami, Tokui, Kotaro, Taka, Chihiro, Okazawa, Seisuke, Kambara, Kenta, Imanishi, Shingo, Miwa, Toshiro, Hayashi, Ryuji, Matsui, Shoko, Masaki, Yasuaki, Taniguchi, Hirokazu, Tobe, Kazuyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Athens Spandidos Publications 01-05-2023; Spandidos Publications UK Ltd; D.A. Spandidos
• Subjects: Antibodies; Cancer therapies; Cytotoxicity; Development and progression; Epidermal growth factor; Hospitals; Kinases; Lung cancer; Lung cancer, Non-small cell; Lung cancer, Small cell; Medical prognosis; Oncology; Patients; Radiation therapy; Statistical analysis; Tumors; Japan
• ISSN: 2049-9450; 2049-9469
• DOI: 10.3892/mco.2023.2634

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy has been less effective in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations than in patients with EGFR wild-type NSCLC. This retrospective study was conducted to investigate the associations of clinical parameters with the efficacy of ICI therapy in patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC. Clinical information was retrieved from the medical charts, and immunohistochemical analysis was performed in some cases to determine the tumor-infiltrating CD68-positive cell count. Data from 46 patients were included in the analysis. The median (95% confidence interval) progression-free survival and overall survival from the initiation of ICI therapy was 1.4 months (1.0-1.7 months) and 6.4 months (3.9-19.0 months), respectively. Analysis using a Cox proportional hazards model revealed that tumor programmed death-ligand 1 expression was associated with the overall survival of patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC after ICI treatment. The tumor-infiltrating CD68-positive cell count was evaluated in 11 patients. Comparison using the log-rank test revealed that the progression-free survival time after ICI treatment was longer in the patients with lower tumor-infiltrating CD68-positive cell counts than those with higher tumor-infiltrating CD68-positive cell counts. The present analysis demonstrated that PD-L1 expression and the tumor-infiltrating CD68-positive cell count may be associated with the efficacy of ICI therapy in patients with NSCLC harboring EGFR mutations.