Home Neoplasma Ahead of print Neoplasma Vol.69, No.6, p. 1437–1444, 2022

Journal info


6 times a year.
Founded: 1954
ISSN 0028-2685
ISSN 1338-4317 (online)

Published in English

Editorial Info
Abstracted and Indexed
Submission Guidelines

Select Journal







Webshop Cart

Your Cart is currently empty.

Info: Your browser does not accept cookies. To put products into your cart and purchase them you need to enable cookies.

Neoplasma Vol.69, No.6, p. 1437–1444, 2022

Title: The prognostic impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma: A multicenter retrospective study
Author: Jing-Wen Wei, Yue Hao, Jing Xiang, Xing-Xiang Pu, Li-Ping Wang, Zhan-Sheng Jiang, Jing-Xun Wu, Qian Wang, Chun-Wei Xu, Wen-Xian Wang, Zheng-Bo Song

Abstract: Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) is an aggressive and poorly differentiated type of non-small cell lung carcinoma. Because of the rarity of PSC, the efficacy and toxicity of immunotherapy remain unclear. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for the treatment of advanced PSC.
The study cohort was limited to 33 patients with pathologically confirmed PSC treated with ICIs in four hospitals in China from March 2018 to March 2022. Expression of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) was detected by immunohistochemical analysis. Categorical variables were compared with the Fisher exact test and survival analysis was conducted with the Kaplan-Meier method.
Of the 33 PSC patients, 8 (24.2%) received monotherapy with ICIs and 25 (75.8%) received combination therapy with ICIs. The objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were 36.4% and 78.8%, respectively. The median durations of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 6.07 and 21.33 months, respectively. PD-L1 status in 16 available samples was assessed, which included 30.3% PD-L1-positive patients. The ORRs for PD-L1-positive vs. -negative patients were 50.0% and 90.0%, the DCR was 33.3% and 83.3%, and the median PFS was 17.50 and 6.07 months, respectively (p = 0.812). The median OS was not reached in PD-L1-positive and -negative patients (p = 0.655). The incidence of immune-related adverse (irAEs) was 48.5% and mainly included grade 1 or 2 (39.4%), while the incidence of grade 3 or 4 was 9.1%. Pneumonia (9.1%) and skin rash (9.1%) were the most frequent irAEs.
Immunotherapy with ICIs was a promising regimen to improve the prognosis of patients with advanced PSC.

Keywords: efficacy; immune checkpoint inhibitors; immune-related adverse events; programmed death ligand 1; pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma
Published online: 10-Nov-2022
Year: 2022, Volume: 69, Issue: 6 Page From: 1437, Page To: 1444
doi:10.4149/neo_2022_220617N644


download file



© AEPress s.r.o
Copyright notice: For any permission to reproduce, archive or otherwise use the documents in the ELiS, please contact AEP.