315O_PR Antitumor activity and safety of pembrolizumab in patients with PD-L1-positive nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Interim results from a phase 1b study

Comprehensive genomic profiling of different subtypes of nasopharyngeal carcinoma reveals similarities and differences to guide targeted therapy

“…44,45 TMB, measured by a cancer gene panel, also successfully predicted a greater likelihood of response to cancer immunotherapies in locally advanced or metastatic bladder patients treated with atezolizumab (anti-programmed death ligand 1; Genentech/Roche). 13,46 In a phase I clinical trial, more than onefifth of 27 advanced NPC patients with positive programmed death ligand 1 expression responded to a programmed death 1 inhibitor, and another 15 patients showed stable diseases. 13 In our study, the degrees of TMB were moderately associated with the NPC subtypes.…”

“…In the past 10 years, only a few clinical trials targeting epidermal growth factor receptor and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor have been studied in NPC patients, but the rates of overall and disease‐free survival in these trials have been unsatisfactory . A phase 1 clinical trial using a programmed death 1 inhibitor to treat recurrent or metastatic NPC showed an overall response rate of 22% among 27 heavily treated NPC patients, and the median duration of response was 10.8 months . The new approaches to treating NPC, including targeted therapy and immunotherapy, highlight the need for the identification of new therapeutic targets by techniques such as comprehensive genomic profiling.…”

“…[10][11][12] A phase 1 clinical trial using a programmed death 1 inhibitor to treat recurrent or metastatic NPC showed an overall response rate of 22% among 27 heavily treated NPC patients, and the median duration of response was 10.8 months. 13 The new approaches to treating NPC, including targeted therapy and immunotherapy, highlight the need for the identification of new therapeutic targets by techniques such as comprehensive genomic profiling.…”

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda)

“…The ORR was 22%, with a median PFS of 5.6 months. 78 Grade 3/4 AEs were observed in 6 patients, including hepatitis, pneumonitis, anemia, elevated creatine phosphokinase, proteinuria and sepsis, resulting in drug discontinuation in 4 patients and death in 1 patient. In another phase 1B study of metastatic ovarian cancer with PDL1 expression, 79 an ORR of only 11.5% was observed.…”

Beating 'Guangdong cancer': a review and update on nasopharyngeal cancer

“…Pembrolizumab was shown to be well-tolerated with significant anti-tumour activity in NPC in a phase Ib trial, 74 and is currently in a phase II trial to confirm the response rate and efficacy in terms of improvement in OS (NCT02611960). Nivolumab has just completed phase II trials; the preliminary results showed that it is active in heavily pre-treated recurrent or metastatic patients, 75,76 and that PD-L1 expression may predict benefits from nivolumab.…”