Biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors--authors' reply

Our plain-English summary of Biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors--authors' reply, by L. Calabrò, M. Maio (The Lancet. Oncology, 2014).

The study

• Authors: L. Calabrò, M. Maio
• Journal: The Lancet. Oncology
• Published: 2014;15(1):e1-2
• Type of article: Letter, Comment
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is a short letter, not a new study. The authors replied to a letter by Lysanne Lievense and colleagues about the authors' earlier open-label, single-arm phase 2 trial of tremelimumab in patients with chemotherapy-resistant advanced malignant mesothelioma. Tremelimumab is a drug that blocks CTLA4, a protein that restrains the immune system. The authors wrote that no markers had yet been found to pick out patients who respond well to this type of drug. They reported unpublished data of their own, not shown in detail. They did not find CTLA4 on a panel of nine human mesothelioma cell lines. In patients with cutaneous melanoma treated with ipilimumab, another anti-CTLA4 drug, CTLA4 on blood cells collected before treatment showed no correlation with clinical outcome. The authors restated their trial finding that higher absolute numbers of circulating CD4-positive, ICOS-positive T cells during tremelimumab treatment correlated with a more favourable prognosis. The authors concluded that markers measured during treatment, rather than fixed ones, are probably needed, and that this T-cell marker might eventually help decide whether to continue or stop treatment. The letter does not discuss asbestos.

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: Letter to the editor (authors' reply to correspondence about their earlier phase 2 trial); not a new study
• Who was studied: No new patient group. The letter refers to the authors' earlier trial in chemotherapy-resistant advanced malignant mesothelioma. It also mentions unpublished laboratory work on nine human mesothelioma cell lines, and unpublished work in patients with cutaneous melanoma treated with ipilimumab (number not given).
• Exposure: Drug treatment, not asbestos: tremelimumab (anti-CTLA4 monoclonal antibody) in mesothelioma; ipilimumab (anti-CTLA4 drug) in cutaneous melanoma
• Main results:
  • In unpublished work, the authors did not detect CTLA4 on any of nine human mesothelioma cell lines
  • In unpublished work in patients with cutaneous melanoma treated with ipilimumab, CTLA4 on blood mononuclear cells collected at baseline showed no correlation with clinical outcome
  • The authors restated a finding from their earlier mesothelioma trial: absolute numbers of circulating CD4-positive, ICOS-positive T cells during tremelimumab treatment correlated with a more favourable prognosis
  • The authors stated that no markers had yet been identified to select patients who respond well to immune-checkpoint-blocking antibodies
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that predicting response to these drugs probably needs markers that change during treatment rather than fixed baseline markers. They suggested the CD4-positive, ICOS-positive T-cell count might eventually help guide whether to continue or stop anti-CTLA4 treatment.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Biomarker, checkpoint inhibitors.

Related studies

• Biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors — L.A. Lievense, J.P. Hegmans, et al. (2014)
• Immunological checkpoint inhibitors enter adolescence — A.K. Nowak (2013)
• Tremelimumab for patients with chemotherapy-resistant advanced malignant mesothelioma: an open-label, single-arm, phase 2 trial — L. Calabrò, A. Morra, et al. (2013)
• Immune checkpoint blockade in malignant mesothelioma — L. Calabrò, M. Maio (2015)
• Immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): Approaches on special subgroups and unresolved burning questions — J. Remon, N. Vilariño, et al. (2018)
• Proton Beam Therapy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma — M.G. McCusker, K.A. Scilla, et al. (2019)

Browse more research in The Lancet. Oncology, or return to medical research.