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Objective:To investigate the factors influencing the prognosis of hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma treated with programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) inhibitors, and to construct a prognostic nomogram model for these patients and evaluate its clinical significances.Methods:The clinical data of 121 patients with hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma treated with PD-1 inhibitors at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical College from July 2018 to July 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Follow-up was performed from the beginning of PD-1 inhibitor use, and the Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the overall survival of patients. The variables screened by the univariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis and variables clinically believed to be related to the prognosis were included in the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model for overall survival, and the stepwise regression method was used to screen the independent factors influencing overall survival. Based on the independent influencing factors of overall survival, R 3.5.1 software was used to construct a prognostic nomogram model for overall survival of hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma treated with PD-1 inhibitors. Calibration curve was used to the consistency of model prediction and practice. The Harrell consistency index and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (with imaging diagnosis as the gold standard) were used to analyze the efficacy of model in predicting the 1-year and 2-year overall survival rates.Results:The median follow-up time of 121 patients was 12.40 months, and the median overall survival time was 14.30 months, with overall survival rates of 82.60% and 62.30% at 6 and 12 months. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that albumin (ALB) ( HR = 0.946, 95% CI 0.901-0.992), international normalized ratio (INR) ( HR = 32.034, 95% CI 5.046-203.362), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) ( HR = 1.010, 95% CI 1.007-1.012) were independent influencing factors for overall survival of patients. According to the three factors, a prognostic nomogram model for hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma treated with PD-1 inhibitors was constructed. The slope of the calibration curve of the model predicting 1-year and 2-year overall survival rates was close to 1. The Harrell consistency index of the nomogram model was 0.809 (95% CI 0.760-0.858). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of the nomogram model predicting 1-year and 2-year overall survival rates of patients was 0.794 (95% CI 0.744-0.887, P < 0.001) and 0.791 (95% CI 0.708-0.860, P = 0.002). Conclusions:ALB, INR and AST are the influencing factors of prognosis of hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors, and the nomogram model constructed based on prognostic influencing factors has a good effect on predicting the 1-year and 2-year overall survival rates of patients, which can be used to screen the population suitable for immunotherapy and is conducive to the clinical formulation of individualized and precise treatment plans.
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Programmed cell death receptor 1 (PD-1)/PD-1 ligand (PD-L1) maintains immune tolerance of normal tissues and mediates immune escape of tumors. For autoimmune thyroiditis, thyroid follicular epithelial cells inhibit the damage of T cells by up-regulating PD-L1 expression. With the application of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in the field of cancer therapy, the incidence of immune-related thyroid disorders caused by ICIs has increased. Thyroid function should be monitored during and after ICIs treatment to promptly diagnose primary and (or) secondary thyroid disorders. The PD-1/PD-L1 signaling directly stimulates thyroid cancer cells, and exerts inhibitory effects on tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Combination of ICIs targeting PD-1/PD-L1 with chemo-radiotherapy or targeted therapy is a promising therapeutic strategy in the treatment of refractory thyroid cancers.
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Objective:To assess the prognostic value of pretreatment 18F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters in patients with metastatic malignant melanoma treated with anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD1) immunotherapy. Methods:A retrospective analysis of 29 patients (15 males, 14 females, age (59.1±13.0) years) with pathologically diagnosed metastatic malignant melanoma in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital between June 2017 and October 2020 was conducted. Anti-PD1 immunotherapy were performed in all patients after 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging. 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters including SUV max, bone marrow-to-liver SUV max ratio (BLR), spleen-to-liver SUV max ratio (SLR) were obtained. Total metabolic tumor volume (TMTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of primary lesions were measured automatically using the thresholds of 40%SUV max. The median value of each PET parameter was regarded as the threshold value and was used to divide patients into 2 groups (≥ and < the median value, respectively). Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Cox proportional risk model were used to analyze the overall survival (OS) differences between groups. Results:The median follow-up time was 15.0 months and 13 patients died. The median OS was 26.0(95% CI: 20.4-31.6) months. The median SUV max, TMTV, TLG, BLR and SLR were 6.2, 8.2 cm 3, 38.6 g, 0.82 and 0.84 respectively. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test showed that differences of OS between SUV max≥6.2 and <6.2 groups, TLG≥38.6 g and <38.6 g groups, BLR≥0.82 and <0.82 groups, SLR≥0.84 and <0.84 groups were not significant ( χ2 values: 0.01-0.35, P values: 0.061-0.929), while patients with TMTV≥8.2 cm 3 suffered from poorer OS compared with those with TMTV<8.2 cm 3 ( χ2=5.90, P=0.015). Cox multivariate analysis showed that TMTV (hazard risk ( HR)=6.347, 95% CI: 1.039-38.789) was a significant predictor of OS ( P=0.045). Conclusion:18F-FDG PET/CT parameter TMTV is the independent predictive factor of OS in metastatic melanoma treated with anti-PD1 immunotherapy.
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Professors James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo were awarded with the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their contributions in cancer immunotherapy. The latter is a breakthrough in cancer therapy, aimed to overcome tumor-induced immunosuppression, leading to the reactivation of the immune system against cancer cells. Under physiological conditions, the CTLA-4 and PD-1 proteins expressed on T-cells and discovered by the awarded scientists, lead to immune tolerance. Cancer cells exploit these control points to enhance the inhibition of T-cells. The expression of PD ligands (PD-L1) in tumor cells and CTLA-4 ligands in antigen presenting cells, which bind the PD-1 receptor and CTLA-4 respectively, block anti-tumor immunity. This situation led to a biotechnological race focused on the development of effective antibodies able to "turn-on" the immune system cheated by the tumor. Anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 antibodies improve life-expectancy in cancer patients. In this review, we perform an historical overview of Professors Allison and Honjo contribution, as well as the immunological basis of this new and powerful therapeutic strategy, highlighting the clinical benefits of such intervention.
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Humans , Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors , Neoplasms/drug therapy , CTLA-4 Antigen/therapeutic use , Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor/therapeutic use , Immunotherapy , Nobel PrizeABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the clinical effect of programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1)/programmed death receptor ligand-1 (PD-L1) immunotherapy combined with concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC).Methods:From November 2018 to October 2019, 51 LACC patients in Qinhuangdao First Hospital who received anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy (pembrolizumab) combined with concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy [intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)+ TP (taxol+ carboplatin) chemotherapy] were selected as the observation group. 51 LACC patients who received concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy were selected as the control group. The objective remission rate, disease control rate, tumor markers [squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCAg), soluble cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA21-1), and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125)], proliferation and apoptosis indicators [survivin (Survivin), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), Caspase-3 (Caspase-3), apoptosis-promoting substance (Bax)], PD-1/PD-L1 [soluble PD-L1 (sPD-L1), CD4 + T cell surface PD-1 expression (PD-1 CD4 + T cells), CD8 + T cell surface PD-1 expression (PD-1 CD8 + T cell) and CD14 + monocyte surface PD-L1 expression (PD-L1 CD14 + monocyte)], safety and survival rate within 1 year were compared between the two groups. Results:(1) Disease control and safety: the objective response rate and disease control rate of the observation group were 80.39%(41/51) and 92.16%(47/51), respectively, which were higher than those of the control group by 39.22%(20/51) and 70.59%(36/51) (all P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in the incidence of side effects between the groups (all P>0.05). (2) Tumor markers and proliferation and apoptosis indexes: compared with those before treatment, the levels of serum SCCAg, CYFRA21-1, CEA, CA125, survivin and Bcl-2 in the two groups after treatment were significantly lower, and the levels of Caspase-3 and Bax were significantly higher; the above indexes in the observation group were better than those in the control group after treatment (all P<0.05). (3) PD-1/PD-L1: after treatment, sPD-L1, PD-1 CD4 + T cells, PD-1 CD8 + T cells and PD-L1 CD14 + monocytes in the observation group were significantly lower than those before treatment (all P<0.05). After treatment, the sPD-L1, PD-1 CD4 + T cells, PD-1 CD8 + T cells, PD-L1 CD14 + monocytes in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (all P<0.05). (4) Survival: the survival rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group within 1 year ( P<0.05). Conclusions:The clinical effect of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy combined with concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the treatment of LACC is significant. It can effectively inhibit the progression of the disease by regulating tumor markers, proliferation and apoptosis indicators and PD-1/PD-L1 expression without increasing the risk of treatment, and has a positive effect on improving the survival rate of patients.
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Combined immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), especially programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors, has achieved a remarkable clinical effect in clinical research and practice. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is considered a major risk factor in the process of HCC. Studies are being conducted to investigate the efficacy and safety of PD-1/PD-L1 ICIs used alone or in combination in the treatment of patients with HBV-associated HCC, and some studies have shown that the patients with HBV-associated HCC receiving PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have achieved a similar treatment outcome to those without HBV infection; however, no consensus has been reached on the safety issues related to HBV activation. This article reviews the clinical trials of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy for HCC, so as to clarify the safety and efficacy of this new treatment regimen in the particular circumstances of HBV infection.
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Objective:To explore the value of SPECT/CT imaging on programmed death receptor 1 ligand (PD-L1) expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) based on 99Tc m labeled anti-PD-L1 nanoantibodies (NM-01). Methods:From January 2019 to March 2020, a total of 14 patients (11 males, 3 females; age: (61.9±11.0) years) with pathologically confirmed NSCLC in Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine were prospectively enrolled. NM-01 were labeled with 99Tc m, and patients were recruited for SPECT/CT imaging 2 h after injection with 99Tc m-NM-01((359.1±68.0) MBq). The differences of SUV max in primary and metastatic lesions between PD-L1 positive and negative patients were compared by independent sample t test. The correlation between the SUV max and PD-L1 expression of primary lesions was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. Results:Of 14 patients, 6 were PD-L1 positive and 8 were PD-L1 negative. 99Tc m-NM-01 showed obviously increased uptake in kidneys and liver, while mildly increased uptake in spleen and bone marrow. The SUV max of primary lesions was 4.69±1.88 and the SUV max of metastatic lesions was 2.04±1.32. The SUV max of primary lesions in PD-L1 positive patients was significantly higher than that of PD-L1 negative patients (5.99±1.99 vs 3.72±1.10; t=5.98, P=0.039). There was no significant difference in the SUV max of metastatic lesions between PD-L1 positive and negative patients (1.66±1.03 vs 2.35±1.46; t=-1.77, P=0.084). The SUV max of primary lesions was positively correlated with PD-L1 expression ( r=0.648, P=0.042). Conclusion:99Tc m-NM-01 can demonstrate the expression of PD-L1 in primary and metastatic lesions in NSCLC.
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Gastrointestinal neoplasms is the most common digestive tract neoplasms, and its incidence rate is increasing year by year. Compared with other solid tumors, the application of immune checkpoint inhibitors in gastrointestinal neoplasms is still in the stage of continuous exploration. This paper intends to review the relevant research and latest progress of immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced gastric cancer, mismatch repair function defect/microsatellite high instability and mismatch repair function integrity/microsatellite stability or microsatellite low instability, and further evaluate the effectiveness and safety of immunotherapy combined with relevant studies.
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Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitor combined with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and anti-angiogenic drug tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) versus TACE combined with TKI in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and related influencing factors for prognosis. Methods An analysis was performed for all patients who received TACE+TKI+PD-1 inhibitor and some patients who received TACE+TKI in The First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University from June 2018 to July 2021. Related clinical data were collected, and propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance the baseline characteristics between groups. The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups; the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for comparison of the number of TACE procedures between two groups; the Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze overall survival (OS), and univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were used to analyze the influencing factors for prognosis. Results A total of 181 patients with advanced HCC were screened out, among whom 50 patients were treated with TACE+TKI+PD-1 inhibitor; after PSM, 40 patients treated with TACE+TKI+PD-1 inhibitor were enrolled as observation group and 40 patients treated with TACE+TKI were enrolled as control group. At the end of follow-up, the median follow-up time was 28.6 (95% confidence interval [ CI ]: 22.1-35.1) months, and the median OS was 15.9 (95% CI : 7.5-24.2) months in the observation group and 11.2 (95% CI : 5.0-17.5) months in the control group. The Cox regression analysis showed that the application of PD-1 inhibitor (hazard ratio [ HR ]=0.42, 95% CI : 0.23-0.80, P =0.008), the number of TACE procedures ( HR =0.67, 95% CI : 0.46-0.99, P =0.043), Child-Pugh class ( HR =2.40, 95% CI : 1.15-5.00, P =0.019), and vascular invasion ( HR =3.42, 95% CI : 1.11-9.42, P =0.031) were independent influencing factors for prognosis. The incidence rate of grade > 2 adverse events was 40% for both the observation group and the control group, and there was no significant difference between the two groups ( P =0.818). Conclusion Compared with TACE+TKI, TACE+TKI+PD-1 inhibitor can significantly prolong the OS of patients in advanced HCC, with relatively controllable adverse events.
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As a new type of anti-cancer drugs, immune checkpoint inhibitors have been widely used for the treatment of various tumors in recent years, but they have also caused a variety of immune-related adverse reactions, among which cutaneous adverse reactions are the most common. The onset of cutaneous adverse reactions is usually early, and most are mild, but some can also be life-threatening. This review summarizes recent advances in cutaneous immune-related adverse reactions induced by immune checkpoint inhibitors.
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After the specific binding of programmed death-1 (PD-1) to programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) , the PD-1/PD-L1 complex can exert a co-suppressive/co-stimulatory immunoregulatory effect, which can inhibit the activation and proliferation of T cells and their cytokine secretion, and play a key role in tumor immunity, autoimmunity and immune tolerance. This review summarizes structures and regulatory mechanisms of the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway, aimming to facilitate the understanding of immune pathogenesis of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies complicated by malignant tumors, and to seek potential therapeutic targets and diagnostic strategies.
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Objective:To synthesize a novel site-specifically labelled probe 68Ga-1, 4, 7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane-1, 4, 7, 10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA)-Cys-Asp-Val (CDV)-Nb109 and explore its potential for detection of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression level in different tumors. Methods:Firstly, CDV was inserted into the tail of the sequence of Nb109 by genetic engineering. Then the precursor DOTA-CDV-Nb109 was prepared by mixing the maleimide-DOTA and the single-domain antibody CDV-Nb109 (amount of substance ratio 1∶1) via the maleimide-cysteine site-specific coupling strategy. Subsequently, the DOTA-CDV-Nb109 was labeled with 68Ga and purified by PD-10 column. Human melanoma A375, human PD-L1 transfected melanoma A375-hPD-L1 and human glioma U87 tumor-bearing mice models were established, and the diagnostic value of 68Ga-DOTA-CDV-Nb109 was evaluated by stability assay, cellular uptake, and microPET imaging. One-way analysis of variance and the least significant difference t test were used to analyze the data. Results:The probe 68Ga-DOTA-CDV-Nb109 was obtained with the radiochemical yield of (69.79±4.69)%, radiochemical purity more than 97%, and molar activity of (12.85±1.51) GBq/μmol. 68Ga-DOTA-CDV-Nb109 had strong binding affinity for A375-hPD-L1 with the dissociation constant ( Kd) of (66.43±17.89) nmol/L. The uptake of 68Ga-DOTA-CDV-Nb109 in A375-hPD-L1 and U87 cells were (3.17±0.15) percentage of the added radioactivity dose (%AD) and (2.08±0.03) %AD respectively, which were significantly higher than that in A375 cells ((1.21±0.14) %AD; F=82.87, t values: 15.23, 9.98, P values: <0.001, 0.003). The tumor uptake of the probe in A375-hPD-L1 ((5.21±0.35) percentage of injected dose per ml (%ID/ml)) and U87 tumor-bearing mice ((3.44±0.69) %ID/ml) were significantly higher than that in A375 tumor-bearing mice ((2.17±0.36) %ID/ml; F=249.72, t values: 35.70, 3.43, both P<0.001). Conclusion:The site-specifically labelled probe 68Ga-DOTA-CDV-Nb109, which can non-invasively and dynamically monitor the change of PD-L1 expression level in different tumors and help screen patients who can benefit from PD-L1 immune checkpoint blocking therapy, is successfully synthesized with high radiochemical purity.
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Objective:To prepare 99Tc m-hydrazinonicotinamide(HYNIC)-αCD8/Fab ( 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab), and explore the predictive value of 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab SPECT/CT imaging for the efficacy of anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) immunotherapy. Methods:The αCD8/Fab was modified with HYNIC- N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and IRDye800-NHS to form HYNIC-αCD8/Fab and IRDye800-αCD8/Fab (Dye-αCD8/Fab), respectively. 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab was prepared in sodium bicarbonate buffer (pH=8.5), with SnCl 2 being used as the reducing agent. The labeling yield and radiochemical purity of 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab and its stability in PBS and fetal bovine serum (FBS) were tested in vitro. The mouse spleen and human peripheral blood lymphocytes were isolated for cell-specific binding and blocking experiments of 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab in vitro. SPECT/CT imaging was used to analyze the specific binding ability of the 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab probe in CT26 colon cancer mouse models (BALB/c). The near infrared fluorescence imaging and SPECT/CT imaging were performed to detect the intra-tumoral CD8 + T cell infiltration after anti-PD-1 therapy in tumor bearing mice, and the results were further verified by HE and immunofluorescence staining. CD8 + T cell depletion study was performed to determine the role of CD8 + T cells in the tumor responses to anti-PD-1 therapy. Two-way analysis of variance was used to compare the data difference. Results:The labeling yield of 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab was 90% with a high radiochemical purity (95%) and good stability in vitro (radiochemical purity still more than 80% after 720 min in PBS and FBS). 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab could specifically bind to mouse CD8 + T cells ((10.30±0.81) percent added radioactive dose (%AD)/10 6 cells), compared with the binding ability in human peripheral blood lymphocytes group and CD8 antibody blocking group ((1.78±0.61) and (1.59±0.25) %AD/10 6 cells; F=10.07, P<0.001). SPECT/CT imaging showed that 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab had markedly higher tumor uptake in the CT26 colon cancer mouse models. Near-infrared fluorescence imaging showed that the tumor uptake of 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab in the responsive group was significantly higher than in the nonresponsive group after anti-PD-1 treatment ((8.9±1.1)% vs (7.1±0.8)%; F=4.69, P=0.024), and SPECT/CT imaging found the similar result. HE and immunofluorescence staining of tumor and lymph nodes showed that the proportion of lymphocyte infiltration was higher in the responsive group. Furthermore, CD8 + T cell depletion significantly reversed the therapeutic effect of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in tumor-bearing mice. Conclusions:In this study, 99Tc m-αCD8/Fab was successfully obtained. CD8-specific SPECT imaging could sensitively visualize the tumor-infiltrating CD8 + T cells, suggesting the potential application value to predict and evaluate the efficacy of immunotherapy in the clinical settings.
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Pituitary immune-related adverse events induced by programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitors in advanced lung cancer patients: A report of 3 cases SUMMARY Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and its ligand 1 (PD-L1) have been widely used in lung cancer treatment, but their immune-related adverse events (irAEs) require intensive attention. Pituitary irAEs, including hypophysitis and hypopituitarism, are commonly induced by cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 inhibitors, but rarely by PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. Isolated adrenocorticotropic hormone(ACTH) deficiency (IAD) is a special subtype of pituitary irAEs, without any other pituitary hormone dysfunction, and with no enlargement of pituitary gland, either. Here, we described three patients with advanced lung cancer who developed IAD and other irAEs, after PD-1 inhibitor treatment. Case 1 was a 68-year-old male diagnosed with metastatic lung adenocarcinoma with high expression of PD-L1. He was treated with pembrolizumab monotherapy, and developed immune-related hepatitis, which was cured by high-dose methylprednisolone [0.5-1.0 mg/(kg·d)]. Eleven months later, the patient was diagnosed with primary gastric adenocarcinoma, and was treated with apatinib, in addition to pembrolizumab. After 17 doses of pembrolizumab, he developed severe nausea and asthenia, when methylprednisolone had been stopped for 10 months. His blood tests showed severe hyponatremia (121 mmol/L, reference 137-147 mmol/L, the same below), low levels of 8:00 a.m. cortisol (< 1 μg/dL, reference 5-25 μg/dL, the same below) and ACTH (2.2 ng/L, reference 7.2-63.3 ng/L, the same below), and normal thyroid function, sex hormone and prolactin. Meanwhile, both his lung cancer and gastric cancer remained under good control. Case 2 was a 66-year-old male with metastatic lung adenocarcinoma, who was treated with a new PD-1 inhibitor, HX008, combined with chemotherapy (clinical trial number: CTR20202387). After 5 months of treatment (7 doses in total), his cancer exhibited partial response, but his nausea and vomiting suddenly exacerbated, with mild dyspnea and weakness in his lower limbs. His blood tests showed mild hyponatremia (135 mmol/L), low levels of 8:00 a.m. cortisol (4.3 μg/dL) and ACTH (1.5 ng/L), and normal thyroid function. His thoracic computed tomography revealed moderate immune-related pneumonitis simultaneously. Case 3 was a 63-year-old male with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma. He was treated with first-line sintilimab combined with chemotherapy, which resulted in partial response, with mild immune-related rash. His cancer progressed after 5 cycles of treatment, and sintilimab was discontinued. Six months later, he developed asymptomatic hypoadrenocorticism, with low level of cortisol (1.5 μg/dL) at 8:00 a.m. and unresponsive ACTH (8.0 ng/L). After being rechallenged with another PD-1 inhibitor, teslelizumab, combined with chemotherapy, he had pulmonary infection, persistent low-grade fever, moderate asthenia, and severe hyponatremia (116 mmol/L). Meanwhile, his blood levels of 8:00 a.m. cortisol and ACTH were 3.1 μg/dL and 7.2 ng/L, respectively, with normal thyroid function, sex hormone and prolactin. All of the three patients had no headache or visual disturbance. Their pituitary magnetic resonance image showed no pituitary enlargement or stalk thickening, and no dynamic changes. They were all on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with prednisone (2.5-5.0 mg/d), and resumed the PD-1 inhibitor treatment when symptoms relieved. In particular, Case 2 started with high-dose prednisone [1 mg/(kg·d)] because of simultaneous immune-related pneumonitis, and then tapered it to the HRT dose. His cortisol and ACTH levels returned to and stayed normal. However, the other two patients' hypopituitarism did not recover. In summary, these cases demonstrated that the pituitary irAEs induced by PD-1 inhibitors could present as IAD, with a large time span of onset, non-specific clinical presentation, and different recovery patterns. Clinicians should monitor patients' pituitary hormone regularly, during and at least 6 months after PD-1 inhibitor treatment, especially in patients with good oncological response to the treatment.
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Aged , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Adenocarcinoma of Lung/drug therapy , Adrenocorticotropic Hormone/therapeutic use , B7-H1 Antigen/therapeutic use , Hydrocortisone/therapeutic use , Hyponatremia/drug therapy , Hypopituitarism/drug therapy , Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors , Lung Neoplasms/pathology , Methylprednisolone/therapeutic use , Nausea/drug therapy , Pituitary Gland/pathology , Pneumonia , Prednisone/therapeutic use , Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor/therapeutic use , Prolactin/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the expression of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), programmed cell death ligand 1(PD-L1), and lymphocyte-activation gene 3(LAG-3) in different subsets of lymphocytes and their relationship with the immunologic imbalance in preeclampsia.Methods:We enrolled 25 cases of singleton pregnant women with preeclampsia who were delivered by cesarean section in the Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University from May 2019 to January 2020 as the preeclampsia group. According to the allocation ratio of 1∶1 matched for the date of cesarean section and pregnancy week at delivery, another 25 healthy singleton pregnant women underwent elective cesarean section were selected as the normal group. The decidua tissue was obtained during cesarean section. The expression levels of PD-1, PD-L1, and LAG-3 on decidual T cells, natural killer (NK), and natural killer T (NKT) cells were measured by flow cytometry and compared between the two groups using two independent samples- t test. Results:(1) The expression of PD-1 on decidual T cells and NK cells of the preeclampsia group were lower than those of the normal group (37.84±3.82 vs 57.02±3.89, t=3.529, P<0.001; 3.28±0.48 vs 5.69±0.99, t=2.184, P=0.034), but did not differ significantly in the expression on decidual NKT cells ( P=0.461). PD-L1 expression on decidual NK cells of preeclampsia group was lower than that of the normal group (0.60±0.11 vs 1.32±0.19, t=3.319, P=0.002), but showed no significant difference in the expression level on T cells and NKT cells (both P>0.05). The preeclampsia group was noted for a lower expression of LAG-3 on decidual T cells and NKT cells compared with the normal group (2.32±0.36 vs 4.09±0.67, t=2.335, P=0.024; 35.40±4.97 vs 56.27±4.49, t=3.282, P=0.002), while showed no significant difference in the expression level of NK cells ( P=0.112). Conclusions:The decreased expression of PD-1, PD-L1, and LAG-3 in the decidual lymphocyte subsets may be involved in the immunologic imbalance of preeclampsia through the over-activation of immunocytes at the maternal-fetal interface.
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Objective:To investigate the efficacy and safety of infliximab in the treatment of severe plaque psoriasis and its effect on the expression of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) in psoriatic lesions.Methods:A total of 17 patients with severe plaque psoriasis were enrolled from Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital from February 2019 to April 2019, and were treated with intravenous drips of infliximab at a dose of 5 mg/kg at weeks 0, 2, 6, 14, 22, 30, 38 and 46. Efficacy was evaluated by using the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score at weeks 2, 6, 10, 14, 22, 30, 38, 46 and 52, and adverse events were recorded during the trial. Real-time PCR was performed to determine the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in skin tissues of 8 volunteer controls, as well as in skin lesions of 14 patients with plaque psoriasis before treatment and 5 patients with plaque psoriasis after 10-week treatment, and immunofluorescence assay to measure the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in skin tissues of 5 volunteers and 5 patients with psoriasis. The independent sample t-test was used to compare the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in skin tissues between the patients with plaque psoriasis and controls, and paired t-test to compare the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in the skin lesions of patients before and after infliximab treatment. Results:After 2, 6, 10, 14, 22, 30, 38, 46 and 52 weeks of infliximab treatment, the proportion of patients with plaque psoriasis achieving PASI75 was 1/17, 6/16, 9/16, 10/16, 15/15, 14/15, 13/14, 11/13 and 10/11, respectively. Antinuclear antibody staining turned positive in 12 patients, which was the most common adverse reaction, and 1 patient experienced an infusion reaction, which was the most severe adverse reaction. Before the treatment, the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 (1.111 ± 0.391, 0.902 ± 0.169, respectively) was significantly higher in the skin lesions of patients with psoriasis than in the skin tissues of controls (0.620 ± 0.225, t=3.116, P=0.007; 0.474 ± 0.360, t=3.208, P=0.006, respectively) ; after infliximab treatment, the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 (0.570 ± 0.230, 0.150 ± 0.050, respectively) in the improved skin lesions was significantly lower than that in the corresponding lesions before the treatment (1.238 ± 0.414, t=3.107, P=0.036; 0.966 ± 0.184, t=8.423, P=0.001, respectively) . Conclusions:Infliximab is effective and safe for the treatment of plaque psoriasis, but monitoring is necessary during treatment. The expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 is aberrantly upregulated in plaque psoriasis lesions, and decreased after infliximab treatment, suggesting that PD-1/PD-L1 may be involved in inflammation regulation in psoriasis.
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Objective:To explore the predictive value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT radiomics for the programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression level in lung adenocarcinoma patients. Methods:A total of 101 patients (43 males, 58 females; median age 60 years) with histologically confirmed lung adenocarcinoma who received pre-treatment 18F-FDG PET/CT from January 2017 to January 2019 in Peking University Cancer Hospital were included retrospectively. There were 44 patients with positive PD-L1 by immunohistochemical assays, and 57 with PD-L1 negative. Patients were assigned to a training set ( n=71) and a validation set ( n=30). Clinical data, PET/CT radiomics parameters, conventional metabolic parameters, and observed CT characteristics of these patients were included in the models. The filter method and embedded method were used in feature selection. Models based on logistic regression, random forest, XGBoost and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) were trained and evaluated, and the optimal parameters to predict the PD-L1 expression as well as the area under curve (AUC) were attained. Results:All models had predictive ability in the prediction of PD-L1 expression, while LightGBM was more powerful than the others, with the precision for positive and negative predictions of 0.85 and 0.76, respectively. Incorporating clinical data and data derived from thin-section CT images (clinical data+ CT) into the LightGBM, the precision, recall and F1-score for positive and negative patients were 0.71, 0.67, 0.69 and 0.69, 0.73, 0.72, respectively, with the accuracy of 0.70 and the AUC of 0.79. As for clinical data+ PET, the precision, recall and F1-score for positive and negative patients were 0.79, 0.73, 0.76 and 0.75, 0.80, 0.77, respectively, with the accuracy of 0.77 and the AUC of 0.80. As for clinical data+ CT+ PET, the precision, recall and F1-score for positive and negative patients were 0.85, 0.73, 0.79 and 0.76, 0.87, 0.81, respectively, with the accuracy of 0.80 and the AUC of 0.83. Features with significant importance in the model (clinical data+ CT+ PET) were as follows: maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max), peak of standardized uptake value (SUV peak), CT_shape_Maximum2DDiameterSlice, PET_shape_Elongation, PET_gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM)_Correlation, etc. Conclusions:Incorporating clinical data, PET/CT radiomics features and conventional metabolic parameters, the PD-L1 expression can be effectively predicted, which help to assist the selection of patients who may benefit from the immunotherapy.
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In recent years, programmed death protein 1 and its ligand (PD-1/PD-L1) pathway as the main research direction of tumor therapy has brought changes to the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer in some patients. The curative effects of anti-PD-L1 inhibitors are positively correlated with the expression of PD-L1 in tumor tissues. However, different techniques are required to detect the expression of PD-L1 after application of different PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. Therefore, how to detect the expression of PD-L1 in tumor tissues efficiently and accurately is particularly important. This review summarizes the clinical significance and detection methods of PD-L1 expression in non-small cell lung cancer.
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ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical effect of domestic programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor combined with lenvatinib in the treatment of advanced primary liver cancer and related adverse events. MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 24 patients with advanced primary liver cancer who were treated with domestic PD-1 inhibitor combined with lenvatinib in Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, from January 1, 2019 to April 2, 2020, with 15 patients in the Camrelizumab+lenvatinib group, 7 patients in the Sintilimab+lenvatinib group, and 2 patients in the Toripalimab+lenvatinib group. During follow-up, Modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors was used to evaluate the treatment outcome of intrahepatic lesions, and RECIST1.1 was used to evaluate extrahepatic metastatic lesions. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to evaluate survival time. ResultsAmong the 24 treatment-experienced patients, 11 achieved partial response, 7 achieved a stable disease, and 6 had disease progression, resulting in an objective response rate of 45.8% and a disease control rate of 75.0%. The median time to disease progression was 8.4 (95% confidence interval: 6.89-9.91) months. The incidence rate of adverse events was 54.17%, and the most common adverse events were fatigue (29.17%) and hypertension (25.00%). ConclusionPD-1 inhibitor combined with lenvatinib has a marked clinical effect in the treatment of advanced primary liver cancer, with a low incidence rate of serious adverse events, and thus it is a safe and effective treatment regimen.
ABSTRACT
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies in China, and due to the lack of specific symptoms, more than half of these patients are in the advanced stage at the time of initial diagnosis. Targeted therapy and systemic chemotherapies are the main treatment methods for advanced HCC with limited efficacy. In recent years, immunotherapy has been developed rapidly. This article introduces the current status of the immune checkpoint inhibitors, programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors, in the treatment of HCC, summarizes the latest data of several clinical trials, and analyzes the safety and efficacy of monotherapy and combination therapy. The analysis shows that immunotherapy has become one of the important methods for systemic treatment, and combination therapy can significantly improve the outcome of HCC with a manageable safety profile, which is an important direction for future development.