How to Choose a Survival Period? The Impact of Antibiotic Use on OS or PFS in NSCLC Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Chen H ，Han KD ，He ZJ ，Huang YS ... -  《-》

The effects of antibiotics on the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer differ based on PD-L1 expression.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are essential for treatment of various malignancies, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Recently, several studies have shown that the gut microbiome plays an important role in ICI treatment of solid cancers, and antibiotic (ATB) use had a negative impact on the outcomes of ICI treatment via dysbiosis in the gut. However, whether this is applicable to NSCLC remains unclear. The impact of ATBs based on PD-L1 expression also remains unclear. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with NSCLC who received ICI monotherapy (anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibody) at nine institutions from December 2015 to May 2018. Outcomes with use of ATBs during the 2 months before or a month after initiation of ICI treatment, including progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), were investigated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analysis was also conducted using a Cox proportional hazards model. A total of 531 patients were included in this study, among whom 98 (18.5%) received ATBs before or after ICI treatment. ATB use was significantly associated with a shorter median OS (11.7 months in the ATB group vs. 16.1 months in the non-ATB group; p = 0.028), whereas the difference in PFS was not significant (3.5 months in both the groups; p = 0.287). We next investigated the association based on PD-L1 expression in the 265 patients for whom PD-L1 expression was determined. There was no significant difference in the median OS or PFS between patients with NSCLC and PD-L1 expression <50% receiving ATBs and those not receiving ATBs (PFS: 3.3 vs. 2.8 months, p = 0.88; OS: 9.5 vs. 17.1 months, p = 0.24). Conversely, patients with NSCLC and PD-L1 expression ≥50% receiving ATBs showed significantly shorter median PFS and OS (PFS: 4.2 vs. 9.4 months, p = 0.012; OS: 11.9 vs. 28.4 months, p = 0.011). The impact of ATBs in patients with NSCLC and PD-L1 expression ≥50% was more significant than that in the entire cohort. Our results indicate that the impact of ATB use on the efficacy of ICIs differed based on PD-L1 expression in patients with advanced NSCLC. A negative impact of ATB use was found in patients with NSCLC and PD-L1 expression ≥50% but not in those with PD-L1 expression <50%.

Ochi N ，Ichihara E ，Takigawa N ，Harada D ，Inoue K ，Shibayama T ，Hosokawa S ，Kishino D ，Harita S ，Oda N ，Hara N ，Hotta K ，Maeda Y ，Kiura K ... -  《-》

The impact of antibiotic use on clinical features and survival outcomes of cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Nowadays, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become one of the essential immunotherapies for cancer patients. However, the impact of antibiotic (ATB) use on cancer patients treated with ICIs remains controversial. Our research included retrospective studies and a randomized clinical trial (RCT) with cancer patients treated with ICIs and ATB, from the public database of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane, clinical trials, and JAMA. The survival outcomes included progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Meanwhile, hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, and subgroup analyses were performed to determine the concrete association between ATB use and the prognosis of cancer patients treated in ICIs. Our results revealed that ATB use was associated with poor survival outcomes, including OS (HR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.68-2.25, p <0.001) and PFS (HR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.53-2.19, p <0.001). The subgroup analysis learned about the association between ATB use and the prognosis of cancer patients with ICI treatment, including 5 cancer types, 3 kinds of ICI, 5 different ATP windows, broad-spectrum ATB class, and ECOG score. ATB treatment was associated with poor OS of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), renal cell carcinoma (RCC), esophageal cancer (EC), and melanoma (MEL) in patients treated in ICIs, while non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were associated with poor PFS. Meanwhile, it was strongly related to the ICI type and ATB window. Furthermore, it is firstly mentioned that the use of broad-spectrum ATB class was strongly associated with poor PFS. In conclusion, our meta-analysis indicated that ATB use was significantly associated with poor OS and PFS of cancer patients treated with ICI immunotherapy, especially for patients with ATB use in the period of (-60 days; +30 days) near the initiation of ICI treatment. Also, different cancer types and the ICI type can also impact the survival outcome. This first reveals the strong relationship between the broad-spectrum ATB class and poor PFS. Still, more studies are needed for further study.

Zhou J ，Huang G ，Wong WC ，Hu DH ，Zhu JW ，Li R ，Zhou H ... -  《Frontiers in Immunology》

Differential influence of antibiotic therapy and other medications on oncological outcomes of patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with first-line pembrolizumab versus cytotoxic chemotherapy.

Some concomitant medications including antibiotics (ATB) have been reproducibly associated with worse survival following immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in unselected patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (according to programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression and treatment line). Whether such relationship is causative or associative is matter of debate. We present the outcomes analysis according to concomitant baseline medications (prior to ICI initiation) with putative immune-modulatory effects in a large cohort of patients with metastatic NSCLC with a PD-L1 expression ≥50%, receiving first-line pembrolizumab monotherapy. We also evaluated a control cohort of patients with metastatic NSCLC treated with first-line chemotherapy. The interaction between key medications and therapeutic modality (pembrolizumab vs chemotherapy) was validated in pooled multivariable analyses. 950 and 595 patients were included in the pembrolizumab and chemotherapy cohorts, respectively. Corticosteroid and proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy but not ATB therapy was associated with poorer performance status at baseline in both the cohorts. No association with clinical outcomes was found according to baseline statin, aspirin, β-blocker and metformin within the pembrolizumab cohort. On the multivariable analysis, ATB emerged as a strong predictor of worse overall survival (OS) (HR=1.42 (95% CI 1.13 to 1.79); p=0.0024), and progression free survival (PFS) (HR=1.29 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.59); p=0.0192) in the pembrolizumab but not in the chemotherapy cohort. Corticosteroids were associated with shorter PFS (HR=1.69 (95% CI 1.42 to 2.03); p<0.0001), and OS (HR=1.93 (95% CI 1.59 to 2.35); p<0.0001) following pembrolizumab, and shorter PFS (HR=1.30 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.56), p=0.0046) and OS (HR=1.58 (95% CI 1.29 to 1.94), p<0.0001), following chemotherapy. PPIs were associated with worse OS (HR=1.49 (95% CI 1.26 to 1.77); p<0.0001) with pembrolizumab and shorter OS (HR=1.12 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.24), p=0.0139), with chemotherapy. At the pooled analysis, there was a statistically significant interaction with treatment (pembrolizumab vs chemotherapy) for corticosteroids (p=0.0020) and PPIs (p=0.0460) with respect to OS, for corticosteroids (p<0.0001), ATB (p=0.0290), and PPIs (p=0.0487) with respect to PFS, and only corticosteroids (p=0.0033) with respect to objective response rate. In this study, we validate the significant negative impact of ATB on pembrolizumab monotherapy but not chemotherapy outcomes in NSCLC, producing further evidence about their underlying immune-modulatory effect. Even though the magnitude of the impact of corticosteroids and PPIs is significantly different across the cohorts, their effects might be driven by adverse disease features.

Cortellini A ，Di Maio M ，Nigro O ，Leonetti A ，Cortinovis DL ，Aerts JG ，Guaitoli G ，Barbieri F ，Giusti R ，Ferrara MG ，Bria E ，D'Argento E ，Grossi F ，Rijavec E ，Guida A ，Berardi R ，Torniai M ，Sforza V ，Genova C ，Mazzoni F ，Garassino MC ，De Toma A ，Signorelli D ，Gelibter A ，Siringo M ，Marchetti P ，Macerelli M ，Rastelli F ，Chiari R ，Rocco D ，Della Gravara L ，Inno A ，Michele T ，Grassadonia A ，Di Marino P ，Mansueto G ，Zoratto F ，Filetti M ，Santini D ，Citarella F ，Russano M ，Cantini L ，Tuzi A ，Bordi P ，Minuti G ，Landi L ，Ricciardi S ，Migliorino MR ，Passiglia F ，Bironzo P ，Metro G ，Adamo V ，Russo A ，Spinelli GP ，Banna GL ，Friedlaender A ，Addeo A ，Cannita K ，Ficorella C ，Porzio G ，Pinato DJ ... -  《Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer》

Impact of Antibiotics and Proton Pump Inhibitors on Efficacy and Tolerance of Anti-PD-1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors.

The use of antibiotics (ATB) and proton-pump inhibitors (PPI) alters the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota, which can influence the immune system, consequently interfering with response to anti-PD1 immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). We assessed the impact of ATB and/or PPI use on the efficacy and safety of ICI. Two hundred twelve patients treated with anti-PD1 ICI for non-small cell lung carcinoma, melanoma, upper airway & digestive tract carcinoma or renal cell carcinoma were retrospectively included. Patients having received ATB within 60 days before ICI initiation were included in the ATB+ group. Patients having received PPI within 30 days before ICI initiation were included in the PPI+ group. Four groups were thus considered: ATB-/PPI-, ATB+/PPI-, ATB-/PPI+, ATB+/PPI+. Response rate was assessed by RECIST v1.1. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and adverse events, recorded using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events Version 5, were compared using inverse probability of treatment weighting to account for selection bias. PFS at 6 months was 56.7 %, 95%CI (49.6%; 63.2%) and 47.2 %, 95%CI (39.8%;54.1%) at 12 months. OS was 81.6%, 95%CI (75.6%; 86.2%) at 6 months, and 69.4%, 95%CI (61.9%;75.7%) at 12 months. Compared to ATB-/PPI- group, PFS was lower for the ATB+/PPI- group [Hazard ratio (HR) 1.90, 95%CI (1.41;2.57)] and the ATB-/PPI+ group [HR 1.51, 95%CI (1.11;2.05)], and lowest in the ATB+/PPI+ group [HR 3.65, 95%CI (2.75;4.84)]. For OS, the use of ATB alone or PPI alone or in combination was a risk factor for death, with each increasing HR values by a similar magnitude, and the combination of ATB and PPI did not increase risk further. AEs were observed in 78 cases (36.8%) with no significant impact of ATB or PPI use. This study reveals that ATB and/or PPI use can alter response to anti-PD1 ICI, and the prognosis of cancer patients. The microbiota mechanisms involved in the response to ICI should be investigated to optimize patient management.

Giordan Q ，Salleron J ，Vallance C ，Moriana C ，Clement-Duchene C ... -  《Frontiers in Immunology》