Combination Immunotherapy Shows Promise in relapsedโ Small Cell Lung Cancer, Biomarkers Identified
[City, State] – A new โobservational study suggests that combining immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) with anti-angiogenic therapy โขsignificantly improves progression-free survival (PFS) and diseaseโ control rates inโ patientsโฃ with relapsedโค small cell lung cancer (SCLC) compared to anti-angiogenic therapy alone. Researchers also identified potential biomarkers that could predict treatment responseโข and prognosis.
SCLC is an aggressive cancer with โlimited treatment optionsโฃ once it recursโค after initial therapy. this study, conducted at a single โcenter, evaluated 61 patients who received either ICIs plus anti-angiogenicโฃ therapy (40 patients) or anti-angiogenic monotherapy (21 patients) following first-line treatment failure.
Theโ combination therapy group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement โขin PFS, achievingโข 4.0 months versus 2.7 months in the monotherapy group (p = .029).Diseaseโ control rate was also higher inโค the combination group (77.5% โvs. 52.4%, p =โ .044). Importantly, safety profiles were comparable between the two groups, with low incidence of severe adverse eventsโ (AEs).
Beyond treatment efficacy,the research team investigated potential predictors of response.โข Analysis of clinicopathological factors,plasma proteomics,and extracellular vesicle (EV) membrane proteins revealed associations between four clinicopathological factors – liver metastases,baseline neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels,smoking history,and โขsex -โฃ and both PFS and therapy response.Furthermore, eight โฃplasma โคproteins were also linked to treatment outcomes. Notably, interleukin-12, a protein found on theโฃ membrane of EVs, emerged as a potential โbiomarker indicating a poorer prognosis.
The findings suggest that ICIs combined with anti-angiogenic therapy represent a promising treatment strategy forโ relapsed SCLC, and that identifying predictive biomarkers could personalize treatment approaches for improved patient outcomes.
Keywords: antiโangiogenic therapy; effectiveness; immune checkpoint inhibitors (icis); prognostic biomarker; โคsmall cell lung cancer (SCLC).