Research supported by the Spanish Association Against Cancer in Madrid (AECC) at the Puerta de Hierro University Hospital Biomedical Research Foundation has, in the past year, identified markers that help anticipate the response to immunotherapy and chemo-immunotherapy in lung cancer patients.
"These advances bring research closer to more precise and personalized medicine, with treatments better adapted to each person, aiming to reduce unnecessary side effects," stated AECC Madrid.
The research group, which includes doctoral student Marta Molina Alejandre from the Puerta de Hierro University Hospital Biomedical Research Foundation, has described the biomarker CXCL13, which can be determined through a simple blood test after the first cycle of immunotherapy and could predict whether the treatment will be effective or if resistance will develop.
To reach these conclusions, CXCL13 levels were studied before and after the first cycle of immunotherapy in 177 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the most frequent subtype of this tumor, included in the "BLI-O" study. Subsequently, the results were contrasted in a second cohort of 38 patients from the "NADIM II" clinical trial, coordinated by the Spanish Lung Cancer Group (GECP).
The data indicate that those with higher CXCL13 concentrations have a greater probability of not benefiting from immunotherapy and of showing less favorable clinical progression.
Chemo-immunotherapy and B lymphocytes
On the other hand, the same team has verified that it is possible to anticipate the efficacy of chemo-immunotherapy in lung cancer by studying B lymphocytes. This result opens the possibility of using these immune system cells as predictive biomarkers, thereby guiding more personalized therapeutic strategies.
The researchers, with the support of AECC in Madrid, analyzed blood and tumor samples from 123 patients included in the "NADIM" and "NADIM II" trials of the Spanish Lung Cancer Research Group. They evaluated both the activity of B lymphocytes and their ability to organize within the tumor into structures known as tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS), which act as small "command centers" for the immune system.
According to the results, certain patterns and degrees of activation of B lymphocytes and these structures allow us to predict which tumors will respond better to chemoimmunotherapy. Furthermore, they found that this type of treatment promotes the generation of a greater number of ELTs than conventional chemotherapy, which could help explain its superior efficacy.