부산대학교 도서관

Objective: Immune checkpoint inhibitors are immunotherapeutic agents that block immune checkpoint proteins from binding to the targeted structures and showed promising results in previous trials. This study aimed to explore the ICI responders' clinical characteristics related to ICI responses in cervix cancer patients. Methods: We reviewed retrospectively the medical records of the cervical cancer patients who received immune checkpoint inhibitors for at least 3 cycles from Jan 2016 to Aug 2022 in a single institution. We collected the data about the clinical outcomes and possible predictors of response such as microsatellite instability(MSI) status, mismatch repair(MMR) protein expressions, and programmed death-ligand 1(PD-L1) expression. Results: Among 42 patients, a total of 12 patients showed partial or complete responses. During the median of 8.8 months of the follow-up period (range 1.4-50.5), the object response rate was 28.6% with seven complete responses and five partial responses. The median age of responders was 57 years old (range, 41-74). Six patients had an ECOG performance status ≥ 2. Two patients had adenosquamous cell carcinoma and all other patients had squamous cell carcinoma. Eleven patients (91.7%) were stage≥3 at diagnosis. The median number of prior chemotherapy lines was two (range, 1-4). Among the responders, 3 patients were expired and 4 had progression or relapse. Six patients have continued to receive ICIs. The median Time to response was 1.9 months (range, 1.3 - 5.8) and the duration of response was 17.3 months (95% CI, 2.8 - not estimable). The data about MMR and MSI status was available for 7 and 5 patients respectively. All of them were identified as microsatellite stable and intact MMR status. PD-L1 testing was available for 10 patients and one of them showed negative PD-L1 expression. Conclusion: MMR and MSI status did not directly indicate the response of ICI in cervix cancer patients. Further studies about possible predictors of ICI responses in cervix cancer patients are needed.