Serum Levels of Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor Predict Tumor Response and Outcome to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy.

IRAE biomarker checkpoint inhibitors immunotherapy nivolumab pembrolizumab prognosis

Journal

Frontiers in oncology
ISSN: 2234-943X
Titre abrégé: Front Oncol
Pays: Switzerland
ID NLM: 101568867

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
2021
Historique:
received: 28 12 2020
accepted: 09 03 2021
entrez: 19 4 2021
pubmed: 20 4 2021
medline: 20 4 2021
Statut: epublish

Résumé

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have led to a paradigm shift in cancer therapy, improving outcomes in the treatment of various malignancies. However, not all patients benefit to the same extend from ICI. Reliable tools to predict treatment response and outcome are missing. Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a marker of immune activation, whose levels are prognostic in various cancers. We evaluated circulating suPAR levels as a novel predictive and prognostic biomarker in patients receiving ICI therapy for solid tumors. A total of n = 87 patients receiving ICI therapy for different solid malignancies as well as 32 healthy controls were included into this study. Serum levels of suPAR were measured by ELISA prior to and sequentially at two time points during ICI therapy. Baseline suPAR serum levels were significantly higher in solid tumor patients compared to healthy controls. Importantly, patients with low suPAR levels both before or during ICI treatment were more likely to have a favorable response to treatment at three and six months, respectively. This finding was confirmed by multivariate binary logistic regression analysis including several clinicopathological parameters. Moreover, circulating suPAR levels before and during therapy were an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (OS). As such, patients with initial suPAR levels above our ideal prognostic cut-off value (4.86 ng/ml) had a median OS of only 160 days compared to 705 days for patients with suPAR levels below this cut-off value. Finally, low baseline suPAR levels identified a subgroup of patients who experienced ICI-related side effects which in turn were associated with favorable treatment response and outcome. Our data suggest that measurements of suPAR serum levels are a previously unknown, easily accessible tool to predict individual treatment response and outcome to ICI therapy. Circulating suPAR might therefore be implemented into stratification algorithms to identify the ideal candidates for ICI treatment.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have led to a paradigm shift in cancer therapy, improving outcomes in the treatment of various malignancies. However, not all patients benefit to the same extend from ICI. Reliable tools to predict treatment response and outcome are missing. Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a marker of immune activation, whose levels are prognostic in various cancers. We evaluated circulating suPAR levels as a novel predictive and prognostic biomarker in patients receiving ICI therapy for solid tumors.
METHODS METHODS
A total of n = 87 patients receiving ICI therapy for different solid malignancies as well as 32 healthy controls were included into this study. Serum levels of suPAR were measured by ELISA prior to and sequentially at two time points during ICI therapy.
RESULTS RESULTS
Baseline suPAR serum levels were significantly higher in solid tumor patients compared to healthy controls. Importantly, patients with low suPAR levels both before or during ICI treatment were more likely to have a favorable response to treatment at three and six months, respectively. This finding was confirmed by multivariate binary logistic regression analysis including several clinicopathological parameters. Moreover, circulating suPAR levels before and during therapy were an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (OS). As such, patients with initial suPAR levels above our ideal prognostic cut-off value (4.86 ng/ml) had a median OS of only 160 days compared to 705 days for patients with suPAR levels below this cut-off value. Finally, low baseline suPAR levels identified a subgroup of patients who experienced ICI-related side effects which in turn were associated with favorable treatment response and outcome.
CONCLUSION CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that measurements of suPAR serum levels are a previously unknown, easily accessible tool to predict individual treatment response and outcome to ICI therapy. Circulating suPAR might therefore be implemented into stratification algorithms to identify the ideal candidates for ICI treatment.

Identifiants

pubmed: 33869041
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.646883
pmc: PMC8047604
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

646883

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2021 Loosen, Gorgulho, Jördens, Schulze-Hagen, Beier, Vucur, Schneider, Koppe, Mertens, Kather, Tacke, Keitel, Brümmendorf, Roderburg and Luedde.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Auteurs

Sven H Loosen (SH)

Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Department of Medicine III, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.

Joao Gorgulho (J)

Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Hepatobiliary Oncology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
Department of Oncology, Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation with Section of Pneumology, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.

Markus S Jördens (MS)

Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Maximilian Schulze-Hagen (M)

Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.

Fabian Beier (F)

Department of Medicine IV, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.

Mihael Vucur (M)

Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Anne T Schneider (AT)

Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Hepatobiliary Oncology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.

Christiane Koppe (C)

Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Hepatobiliary Oncology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.

Alexander Mertens (A)

Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Jakob N Kather (JN)

Department of Medicine III, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.

Frank Tacke (F)

Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Verena Keitel (V)

Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Tim H Brümmendorf (TH)

Department of Medicine IV, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.

Christoph Roderburg (C)

Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Tom Luedde (T)

Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Classifications MeSH