An appropriate choice for immunotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of An appropriate choice for immunotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma, by N. Fujimoto (EBioMedicine, 2020).

The study

• Author: N. Fujimoto
• Journal: EBioMedicine
• Published: 2020;62:103057
• Type of article: Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This is a short commentary, not an original study. The author discussed a separate study by Mankor and colleagues, published in the same journal, which monitored immune cells in the blood of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. As the author described that study, combination treatment with anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies (nivolumab and ipilimumab) induced an increase in the proliferation and activation of T cells. Patients who responded had low frequencies of naïve CD8 T cells and high frequencies of effector memory CD8 T cells expressing substances such as granzyme-B and interferon-gamma. The commentary itself reported no new data. In its background, the author noted that malignant pleural mesothelioma is strongly associated with asbestos exposure. The author pointed out that the Mankor study had a limited number of responding patients and said a prospective study with more subjects should be planned to validate the findings. The author concluded that immune monitoring would be the key to choosing appropriate treatments.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Commentary on another published study (Mankor and colleagues); no original data
• Who was studied: The commentary discusses a study by Mankor and colleagues of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors; the commentary does not give the number of patients
• Exposure: Not an asbestos exposure study. The topic is treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (nivolumab and ipilimumab). Asbestos is mentioned only as background: the author notes that malignant pleural mesothelioma is strongly associated with asbestos exposure
• Main results:
  • As reported by the author about the Mankor study (not this commentary's own finding): combination treatment with anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies induced an increase in the proliferation and activation of T cells
  • As reported by the author about the Mankor study: patients who responded to the combination treatment had low frequencies of naïve CD8 T cells and high frequencies of effector memory CD8 T cells
  • The author noted as a strength of the Mankor study that this blood monitoring can be done before treatment starts
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that immune monitoring of blood immune cell subsets may act as a biomarker predicting benefit from combination immunotherapy, and that immune monitoring would be the key to choosing appropriate treatments
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author points out that the Mankor study had a limited number of responding patients and calls for a larger prospective study to validate the findings

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Immunotherapy, Pleural Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Role of Immunotherapy in Small Cell Lung Cancer, Thymic Epithelial Tumors, and Mesothelioma — C.L. Hann, A. Scherpereel, et al. (2019)
• What's the place of immunotherapy in malignant mesothelioma treatments? — M. Grégoire (2010)
• Fractionated low-dose radiotherapy primes the tumor microenvironment for immunotherapy in a murine mesothelioma model — R.A. D'Alonzo, S. Keam, et al. (2025)
• Is there a role for immunotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma? — A. Tartarone, R. Lerose, et al. (2018)
• New roads open up for implementing immunotherapy in mesothelioma — R. Cornelissen, M.E. Heuvers, et al. (2012)
• Multimodality treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma with or without immunotherapy: does it change anything? — M. Lucchi, A. Picchi, et al. (2010)

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