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Checkpoint Inhibitors:
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)  Treatment Response

Immunotherapy (IO) is the use of medicines to help a person’s own immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells.  The immune system uses “checkpoint” proteins on immune cells, which act like switches that turn on/off the immune response. Drugs that target these checkpoints are called checkpoint inhibitors.  In addition to checkpoint  genes like PD-L1 gene expression, optimizing IO is critical as starting on IO and switching to a targeted therapy can lead to adverse events. Our customeBiome atlas enables actionable IO personalized medicine in NSCLC.

Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Lung cancer accounts for significantly high rates of morbidity and mortality in the global population and remains the leading cause of cancer death in the United States (1). Non-small cell lung cancer is a group of lung cancers that behave similarly, such as squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma.

Symptoms are a cough that won't go away, shortness of breath, weight loss, or coughing up blood. Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

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Immunotherapy and checkpoint blockage

Immunotherapy (IO) is the use of medicines to help a person’s own immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells.  The immune system uses “checkpoint” proteins on immune cells, which act like switches that turn on/off the immune response. Drugs that target these checkpoints are called checkpoint inhibitors.  In addition to checkpoint  genes like PD-L1 gene expression, optimizing IO is critical as starting on IO and switching to a targeted therapy can lead to adverse events.

NSCLC.jpg

Predict chekpoint inhibitors response in NSCLC patients

Drugs that target these checkpoints are called checkpoint inhibitors.  In addition to checkpoint  genes like PD-L1 gene expression (2), optimizing IO is critical as starting on IO and switching to a targeted therapy can lead to adverse events. Our customeBiome atlas enables actionable IO. 

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In recent years, agents targeting immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) seem to be remarkably effective in a wide range of tumors. Immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) provide long-lasting responses in specific patients. However, today known biomarkers like PD-1 are not consistently indicative of ICB response. Studies showed that gut bacteria taxonomy influences the effectiveness of certain ICB and that modulating the gut microbiome may expand the pool of patients benefiting from cancer immunotherapies (3).

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References

1. Duma et al. Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Epidemiology, Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment, Mayo Clin Proc 2019 Aug;94(8):1623-1640.  doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2019.01.013

2. Kanwai et al. Immunotherapy in Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients: Ushering Chemotherapy Through the Checkpoint Inhibitors? 

Cureus. 2018 Sep; 10(9): e3254.  doi: 10.7759/cureus.3254
3
Andreea Lucia Stancu, Gut Microbiome and the Response to Immunotherapy in Cancer,  
Discoveries (Craiova). 2018 Jul-Sep; 6(3): e84. doi: 10.15190/d.2018.4

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