Identification of Predictive Biomarkers to Prevent Pneumonitis in Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Who are Receiving Immunotherapy (Phase II)

Summary:

Immunotherapy has produced durable clinical responses in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and is the standard of care for these patients. However, severe adverse effects (SAE), such as lung inflammation and pneumonitis can occur in as much as 33% of patients. To help reduce the incidence of SAE, Dr. Sheshadri and team are using biomarker testing prior to treatment to predict patients that are at high risk of developing SAE and antibody tests during treatment to identify SAE, so that clinicians can tailor cancer therapies to minimize these SAE. If successful, this study would identify predictive biomarkers for SAE and identify high-risk patients. As a result, it would reduce the incidence of SAE in patients who receive immunotherapy and lead to strategies to mitigate SAE, increasing patient quality of life.