The efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced -Mutated non-small cell lung cancer after resistance to EGFR-TKIs: Real-World evidence from a multicenter retrospective study.

BACKGROUND

The efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in pretreated -mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients is controversial. We conducted this multicenter retrospective study to examine the efficacy of ICIs in a real world setting.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We collected 116 consecutive NSCLC patients with sensitive mutations who received ICIs alone or in combination after failure to respond to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs), and 99 patients were included for final analysis. The impacts of ICIs on the patients' objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were assessed. The relationships between outcomes and clinical characteristics were analyzed.

RESULTS

The ORR in patients with target lesions was 31.25% (95% CI: 22.18-41.52), and the DCR in all patients was 65.66% (95% CI: 55.44-74.91). The overall median PFS was 5.0 months (95% CI: 3.0-6.6), and the median OS was 15.9 months (95% CI: 10.8-23.8). The outcomes were better in patients receiving combination therapy with ECOG scores of 0-1 and no more than 2 lines of prior therapy, with a median PFS of 7.4 months (95% CI: 3.0-13.3) and a median OS of 29.0 months (95% CI: 11.7-NE). Primary mutation type and treatment mode were found to have a notable impact on clinical outcomes. Both median PFS and OS in patients with L858R mutation were significantly shorter than those in patients with exon 19 deletion (19del) (PFS: 2.5 versus 6.7 months, HR: 1.80, log-rank =0.011; OS: 9.8 versus 26.9 months, HR: 2.48, log-rank =0.002). Patients receiving combination therapy had notably longer median PFS and OS than those receiving monotherapy (PFS: 5.2 versus 3.0 months, HR: 0.54, log-rank =0.020; OS: 19.0 versus 7.4 months, HR: 0.46, log-rank =0.009).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggests that ICI-based combination therapy is a potential strategy for -mutated NSCLC patients after EGFR-TKI failure. The efficacy may differ according to subtypes.