The significance of tumor microenvironment on the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in postoperative recurrence of non-small cell lung cancer

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K08572
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 53030:Respiratory medicine-related
• Research Institution: Osaka Metropolitan University (2022); Osaka City University (2020-2021)
• Principal Investigator: WATANABE TETSUYA 大阪公立大学, 大学院医学研究科, 講師 (40735122)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 非小細胞肺癌 / PD-L1 / 免疫チェックポイント阻害薬 / 腫瘍免疫微小環境

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated the significance of tumor microenvironment (TME) on the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer, and the differences of between TME at surgery and TME at postoperative recurrence. The TME classification, which includes PD-L1 expression and CD8- tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte, is a useful biomarker for predicting the efficacy of anti-PD-1 antibodies, and in particular, TME with high PD-L1 expression and high CD8-tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte is associated with superior efficacy of anti-PD-1 antibody therapy. On the other hand, the concordance rate between TME at surgery and TME at postoperative recurrence was low, suggesting that it may not be useful to evaluate TME using archived specimen at surgery as a biomarker for treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors at postoperative recurrence.

Free Research Field

呼吸器病学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで非小細胞肺癌術後再発時の治療選択を行う際のバイオマーカー測定は手術時に採取された検体を用いてなされてきた。本研究の結果、免疫チェックポイント阻害薬の有効性には免疫微小環境の測定が有用であり、それは手術時と再発時で異なっている可能性が示唆された。術後再発時の薬物療法を過不足なく患者に提供する「個別化医療」の推進のためにも、今後の日常臨床においても再発病巣における免疫微小環境の評価を積極的に行う必要性があることが考えられ、今後の検討課題である。