Peripheral natural killer cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells correlate with anti-PD-1 responses in non-small cell lung cancer
Je-In Youn, Su-Myeong Park, Seyeon Park, Gamin Kim, Heejae Lee, Jimin Son, Min Hee Hong, Aziz Ghaderpour, Bumseo Baik, Jahirul Islam, Ji‐Woong Choi, Eunyoung Lee, Hang‐Rae Kim, Sang‐Uk Seo, Soonmyung Paik, Hong In Yoon, Inkyung Jung, Chun-Feng Xin, Hyun-Tak Jin, Byoung Chul Cho, Seung‐Yong Seong, Sang‐Jun Ha, Hye Ryun Kim
Abstract
Abstract Inhibition of immune checkpoint proteins like programmed death 1 (PD-1) is a promising therapeutic approach for several cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although PD-1 ligand (PD-L1) expression is used to predict anti-PD-1 therapy responses in NSCLC, its accuracy is relatively less. Therefore, we sought to identify a more accurate predictive blood biomarker for evaluating anti-PD-1 response. We evaluated the frequencies of T cells, B cells, natural killer (NK) cells, polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSCs), mononuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (M-MDSCs), and Lox-1 + PMN-MDSCs in peripheral blood samples of 62 NSCLC patients before and after nivolumab treatment. Correlation of immune-cell population frequencies with treatment response, progression-free survival, and overall survival was also determined. After the first treatment, the median NK cell percentage was significantly higher in responders than in non-responders, while the median Lox-1+ PMN-MDSC percentage showed the opposite trend. NK cell frequencies significantly increased in responders but not in non-responders. NK cell frequency inversely correlated with that of Lox-1 + PMN-MDSCs after the first treatment cycle. The NK cell-to-Lox-1 + PMN-MDSC ratio (NMR) was significantly higher in responders than in non-responders. Patients with NMRs ≥ 5.75 after the first cycle had significantly higher objective response rates and longer progression-free and overall survival than those with NMRs <5.75. NMR shows promise as an early predictor of response to further anti-PD-1 therapy.