Stenzl - Figure 32
Studies of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Selected Populations
FIG. 32: Several of the newly-available checkpoint inhibitors have been successfully used to treat other tumor types.[21] Figure 32 shows that immunohistochemistry staining for the presence of a programmed death receptor, either on the tumor cell or on the T-cell, or on both, can predict an outcome.[20] Unfortunately this does not allow us to say whether these patients should have a checkpoint inhibitor, at least as second-line therapy, because cells that were not stained with any programmed-death receptors in a small percentage of patients were still responding, whereas not all patients in whom the receptor was present responded well to any of the checkpoint inhibitors currently available. This is a possibility that we must investigate further, meaning we need new ways not only of looking at the receptors, but also of looking at their activity.
References
Groenendijk FH, de Jong J, Fransen van de Putte EE, et al. ERBB2 mutations characterize a subgroup of muscle-invasive bladder cancers with excellent response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Eur Urol. 2016;69:384−8 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2015.01.014
Powles T, Smith K, Stenzl A, Bedke J. Immune checkpoint inhibition in metastatic urothelial cancer. Eur Urol. Published online April 13, 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2017.03.047
