Response to the treatment immediately before nivolumab monotherapy may predict clinical response to nivolumab in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Currently, no markers predictive of response to nivolumab monotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are currently recognized in Japan. The present study was undertaken to identify such markers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records of 50 patients with advanced NSCLC and treated with nivolumab monotherapy at Shizuoka Cancer Center between December 2015 and April 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. The parameters studied were age, sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, smoking history, histological diagnosis, epidermal growth factor receptor or anaplastic lymphoma kinase status, therapeutic line of nivolumab, efficacy of treatment immediately before nivolumab monotherapy, and time since previous therapy.

RESULTS: The objective response rate to nivolumab monotherapy was 18% [95% confidence interval (CI) 10-31]. Multivariate logistic regression identified "squamous histology" [odds ratio (OR) 0.00054; 95% CI 0-0.27] and "response to the treatment immediately before nivolumab monotherapy" (OR 0.0011; 95% CI 0-0.092) as independently associated with response to nivolumab monotherapy.

CONCLUSION: "Response to the treatment immediately before nivolumab monotherapy" might be a predictive marker of response to nivolumab in patients with advanced NSCLC.