PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - KIYOHIRO ANDO
AU  - KAZUYUKI HAMADA
AU  - MAKOTO WATANABE
AU  - RYOTARO OHKUMA
AU  - MIDORI SHIDA
AU  - RIE ONOUE
AU  - YUTARO KUBOTA
AU  - HIROTO MATSUI
AU  - TOMOYUKI ISHIGURO
AU  - YUYA HIRASAWA
AU  - HIROTSUGU ARIIZUMI
AU  - JUNJI TSURUTANI
AU  - KIYOSHI YOSHIMURA
AU  - TAKUYA TSUNODA
AU  - SHINICHI KOBAYASHI
AU  - SATOSHI WADA
TI  - Plasma Levels of Soluble PD-L1 Correlate With Tumor Regression in Patients With Lung and Gastric Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
AID  - 10.21873/anticanres.13716
DP  - 2019 Sep 01
TA  - Anticancer Research
PG  - 5195--5201
VI  - 39
IP  - 9
4099  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/39/9/5195.short
4100  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/39/9/5195.full
SO  - Anticancer Res2019 Sep 01; 39
AB  - Background/Aim: Cancer immune therapy by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is a promising therapeutic strategy for various cancer types. Among ICIs, anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD1) and anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibodies have shown a remarkable clinical benefit. The present study aimed to address the functional and clinical significance of serum levels of soluble PD-L1 (sPD-L1) in patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 21 patients, 11 with NSCLC, nine with gastric cancer and one with bladder cancer, who underwent anti-PD-1 therapy were evaluated for sPD-L1 concentration by ELISA analyses at diagnosis and after treatment. Results: Pretreatment levels of sPD-L1 in patients who received ICIs were not remarkably correlated with the overall survival of these patients (r=0.3394, p=0.1323). Reduction of plasma sPD-L1 level was significantly correlated with tumor regression in patients administered four cycles of treatment (p<0.05). Conclusion: sPD-L1 might be derived and secreted from tumors and might be useful to identify primary responders to ICIs at a relatively early treatment timepoint.