In a nutshell
This study looked at whether smoking status could be used to predict treatment success for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The authors concluded that immunotherapy could be beneficial to patients with a history of smoking.
Some background
Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that activates the immune system to kill cancer cells. Tumor cells can decrease the immune response in order to stay alive and grow. One way they do this is through a protein called PD-1. PD-1 inhibitors are a type of immunotherapy that helps to activate the immune response to tumors. While this treatment is promising, it is unknown whether it would be more beneficial in certain patients groups. Smoking, for example, generally leads to a large number of genetic mutations (changes). This type of cancer may be better treated with PD-1 inhibitors.
Methods & findings
This meta-analysis (analysis of a number of studies) looked at whether there was a greater survival benefit with immunotherapy depending on the smoking status of the patients.
6 studies were included, with a total of 2389 smokers and 413 never-smokers with advanced NSCLC. The studies included the PD-1 inhibitors nivolumab (Opdivo), pembrolizumab (Keytruda), and atezolizumab (Tecentriq).
A longer progression free survival (PFS, time from beginning trial until disease progression) was 15% more likely in smoker patients treated with immunotherapy compared to chemotherapy. For never-smokers, the chance of a longer PFS was 2.3 times higher with chemotherapy than immunotherapy.
Smokers treated with immunotherapy had a 30% reduced mortality risk compared to chemotherapy. There was no improvement in survival for never smokers.
The bottom line
The authors concluded that immunotherapy could be beneficial for patients with advanced NSCLC and a history of smoking.
Published By :
Oncotarget
Date :
Jun 28, 2017
