Molecular predictors and immunomodulatory role of dual checkpoint inhibitor blockade using ipilimumab/nivolumab in patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer.
Authors: Chiang Anne C. , Asghari Hossein , Ashley Kerryan , Gettinger Scott N. , Goldberg Sarah B. , Herbst Roy S. , Wilson Frederick Hugh , Newton Benjamin Robert , Cohenuram Michael Keith , Sabbath Kert D. , Talsania Ashita D. , Russo Armand Vincent , Schultz Eric , Skrzypczak Stan , Kingsford Carl , Schalper Kurt A. 
Published: June 2023

8597 Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive neuroendocrine carcinoma with poor prognosis. In extensive stage patients, frontline treatment with chemoimmunotherapy shows modest clinical benefit. However, the biological impact of immunotherapy in SCLC is poorly understood with no clear predictive biomarkers to guide patient selection in this setting. Methods: We collected paired baseline (pre-treatment), on-treatment (week 4), and progression biopsies from patients with relapsed advanced-stage SCLC treated with combination nivolumab (nivo) and ipilimumab (ipi) in a single-arm, phase 2 clinical trial (NCT03670056). Nivo 1 mg/kg and ipi 3 mg/kg were administered every 3 weeks for 4 cycles, followed by nivo maintenance until progressive disease (PD) by RECIST 1.1 or treatment-limiting toxicity. Paired pre/on-treatment samples were available from 16/22 patients, as well as 3 biopsies at progression. The tumor samples were studied using whole exome DNA sequencing (including germline DNA) and RNA-sequencing coupled to Ocean Genomics TxomeAI data analysis pipeline. Results: 6/11 evaluable patients had PD; 5 patients showed clinical activity of treatment (3 with stable disease, 2 with partial response). The frequency of deleterious mutations in TP53 and RB1 was 91% and 64%, respectively. Mutations in HLA-A were more common in baseline samples from patients with PD than those with clinical activity. New TP53 and PLEC mutations were found 4 of 6 patients with PD in week 4 samples vs baseline. The baseline tumor mutational burden was not associated with treatment sensitivity and prominently increased in week 4 biopsies of PD patients. All four molecular SCLC transcriptomic subtypes based on the expression of ASCL1, NEUROD1, and POU2F3 were present in the trial with SCLC-A being the most common (9/16 cases). All patients with clinical activity to ipi/nivo were of SCLC-A subtype. 2/16 of cases showed a different molecular subtype after 4 weeks of treatment: one case with SCLC-N switched to SCLC-A and another case converted from SCLC-A to SCLC-N. Comparison of baseline and on-treatment samples showed upregulation of transcripts associated with T-cell activation and PD-1 signaling. In the 3 biopsies at progression, transcriptomic changes included reduction of neutrophil degranulation, type 1/2 interferon and signatures, as well as down-regulation of β-2 microglobulin, while cell cycle and mitotic prophase pathways were overexpressed. Conclusions: Dual checkpoint blockade using nivo/ipi has a prominent immunomodulatory role in extensive stage SCLC characterized by increased local adaptive immune responses, reduced HLA class-I antigen presentation and change in the molecular subtype in a subset of cases. We identified genomic features associated with treatment sensitivity/resistance. Clinical trial information: NCT03670056 .