1. Immunotherapy for Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Real-World Data from an Academic Central and Eastern European Center
- Author
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Tanja Cufer, Lea Knez, Marija Ivanović, Mile Kovačević, and Ana Herzog
- Subjects
Male ,Oncology ,Cancer Research ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Evropa ,Lung Neoplasms ,Population ,srednja Evropa ,Eastern Europe ,vzhodna Evropa ,Pembrolizumab ,European Perspectives ,non-small cell lung carcinoma ,Atezolizumab ,Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ,Internal medicine ,podatki iz resničnega življenja ,medicine ,Humans ,Lung cancer ,education ,udc:616-006 ,education.field_of_study ,advanced non-small cell lung cancer ,real-world data ,Performance status ,Central Europe ,business.industry ,napredovali nedrobnocelinčni karcinom pljuč ,Standard treatment ,nedrobnocelični karcinom pljuč ,imunoterapija ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Progression-Free Survival ,Europe ,Eastern european ,Nivolumab ,immunotherapy ,Immunotherapy ,business - Abstract
Background Immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) recently became the standard treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here, we present the first results of a real-world observational study on the effectiveness of ICI monotherapy in patients with advanced NSCLC treated at a single academic center in a Central and Eastern European (CEE) country. Materials and Methods Overall, 66 consecutive patients with advanced NSCLC treated with ICIs in everyday clinical practice, either with first-line pembrolizumab (26 patients) or second-line atezolizumab, nivolumab, or pembrolizumab (40 patients), from August 2015 to November 2018, were included. All data were retrieved from a hospital lung cancer registry, in which the data is collected prospectively. Results Included patients had a median age of 64 years, most were male (55%), 6% were in performance status ≥2, and 18% had controlled central nervous system metastases at baseline. In first-line, the median progression-free survival (mPFS) was 9.3 months, while the median overall survival (mOS) was not reached. The 1-year overall survival (OS) was 62%. In second-line, the mPFS and mOS were 3.5 months and 9.9 months, respectively, with a 1-year OS of 35%. In the overall population, adverse events of any grade were recorded in 79% of patients and of severe grade (3–4) in 12% of patients. Conclusion The first real-world outcomes of NSCLC immunotherapy from a CEE country suggest comparable effectiveness to those observed in clinical trials and other real-world series, mainly coming from North America and Western European countries. Further data to inform on the real-world effectiveness of immunotherapy worldwide are needed. Implications for Practice Immunotherapy is a standard treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The real-world data on immunotherapy are still limited. This article presents the first data on the effectiveness of mono-immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors for patients with advanced NSCLC treated at a single academic center in a Central and Eastern European country. The survival rates and toxicity are comparable to those achieved in randomized clinical trials and other real-world series, coming mainly from North American and Western European countries. There is a pressing need to gather further data on the effectiveness of immunotherapy in everyday practice worldwide.
- Published
- 2021
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