| The following article features coverage from the IASLC 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer meeting. Click here to read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s conference coverage. |
An overall survival (OS) benefit was reported for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) enrolled in a randomized trial of adjuvant chemotherapy plus cellular immunotherapy compared with adjuvant chemotherapy alone. The findings from this this poster were presented at the IASLC 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer in Barcelona, Spain.
This study enrolled patients with advanced lung cancer with poor prognosis following lung cancer surgery. Although exclusion criteria for study enrollment omitted patients with macroscopic residual disease, as well as those who underwent palliative surgery, those who had microscopic residual disease that was detected on postsurgical cytopathological examination or had malignant pleural effusion were eligible. Other inclusion criteria included patient age of fewer than 76 years, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1, and stage IB to IV NSCLC.
Patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive either 4 courses of chemotherapy with 10 to 14 courses of cellular immunotherapy with “adoptive intravenous transfer of autologous activated killer T cells and dendritic cells obtained from the regional lymph nodes of lung cancer patients” (arm A) or 4 courses of chemotherapy only (arm B). However, patients with malignant pleural effusion received intrathoracic treatment — 4 courses of chemotherapy with or without 4 to 8 courses of immunotherapy — administered through an intrathoracic catheter.
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For the 51 patients enrolled in arm A, 2-, 5-, and 7-year OS rates were 96.0%, 69.4%, and 55.1%, with corresponding rates of 64.7%, 45.1%, and 38.1% for the 52 patients in arm B (hazard ratio [HR], 0.439, in favor of arm A).
In the subgroup with malignant pleural effusion, disease recurred in 1 of the 11 patients in arm A and 6 the 9 patients in arm B, with 3 deaths in the latter group within 2 years.
In his concluding remarks, the study author noted that “patients with lung cancer benefited from adoptive cellular immunotherapy as an adjuvant to surgery.”
Read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s coverage of the IASLC annual meeting by visiting the conference page.
Reference
Kimura, H. Randomized controlled phase III trial of adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy to lung cancer patients: Results of malignant effusions. Presented at: IASLC 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer; September 7-10, 2019; Barcelona, Spain. Abstract P1.04-08.
