Tests that analyze biomarkers are used during cancer management to guide treatment and provide information about patient prognosis. These tests are often performed on tissue biopsy samples that require invasive procedures and can lead to significant side effects. In a new article published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers show that PET/CT images can be used to measure levels of the PD-L1 biomarker of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in a non-invasive manner and, in turn, predict a patient’s response to therapy.
Checkpoint inhibitors, drugs used to reactive the immune system by targeting the PD1/PD-L1 signaling pathway, are commonly used to treat patients with NSCLC. While this type of therapy has greatly improved patient outcomes, it only works for roughly half of this patient population. To avoid treating those who may not respond, checkpoint inhibitor therapy is often limited to patients whose surgical biopsy specimen is shown to express the PD-L1 biomarker. However, performing an invasive surgery is associated with inherent risks, and occasionally the biopsy sample is not adequate to perform diagnostic testing or the testing procedure itself may fail. Therefore, researchers are trying to develop alternative strategies to identify patients who should be treated with targeted agents such as checkpoint inhibitors.
