Immune-checkpoint inhibitors: biomarkers to predict response in non-small cell Lung Cancer patients

Abstract

Lung Cancer is responsible for 1.6 million deaths per year, with the highest Cancer mortality rate, with 85% of patients falling into the non-small cell Lung Cancer group. In addition to smoking prevention, numerous sophisticated therapies have been applied in the treatment of these patients, especially immunotherapy. Cancer immunotherapy is based on the premise that tumors can be recognized and can be attacked by an activated immune system. However, tumor cells develop mechanisms to thwart immune recognition and response. The immune checkpoints modulate the homeostasis of co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory signals, which are critical to maintaining immune tolerance besides modulating the physiological immune responses. However, despite the high response rate to immunotherapy, some patients are refractory to therapy or acquire resistance. Therefore, the characterization of the immune tumor microenvironment that drives or prevents effective responses to therapy is fundamental for understanding and expanding the use of immunotherapy. Therefore, our goal will be to investigate immunological markers that may distinguish responders from non-responders to therapy with immunological checkpoint inhibitors in patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC). For this, forty patients who underwent anti-PD-1/PD-L1 or anti-CTLA-4 immunotherapy will be selected and the immunophenotypic profile of the immune checkpoint inhibitors will be evaluated on peripheral blood T lymphocytes. (AU)