Table 1

Clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes according to per cent change in IL-6 with start of PD-1 inhibitor

IL-6 decreasedIL-6 stableIL-6 increasedAll patients
No of patients (%)11 (23)21 (44)15 (32)47
Interval between pretreatment and mid-treatment plasma draw in days, median (range)28 (17–196)22 (20–126)28 (21–70)28 (17–196)
Age at treatment start, median (range)63 (46–62)73 (50–89)72 (52–80)66 (46–89)
Male sex, n (%)6 (54)5 (24)5 (33)16 (34)
Performance status 0/1/23/8/04/14/33/11/110/33/4
Smoking history, n (%)10 (91)20 (95)14 (93)44 (94)
Histology, n (%)
 Adenocarcinoma10 (91)18 (86)11 (73)39 (83)
 Squamous1 (9)3 (14)4 (27)8 (17)
KRAS mutated/assessed (%)0/11 (0)7/19 (37)5/14 (43)12/44 (27)
TMB, median mut/MB (range)15 (8–27)8 (4–42)5 (2–18)8 (2–42)
 Patients with data not available (%)4 (36)10 (48)6 (40)20 (42)
PD-L1 percentage, median (range)85 (30–95)50 (0–95)70 (5–80)70 (0–95)
Patients with data not available (%)5 (45)7 (33)6 (40)18 (38)
Treatment type
 Pembrolizumab6 (54)15 (71)12 (80)33 (70)
 Nivolumab4 (36)5 (24)1 (7)10 (21)
 Atezolizumab1 (9)02 (13)3 (6)
 Durvalumab01 (5)01 (2)
Line of therapy, median (range)2 (1–6)1 (1–5)1 (1–3)1 (1–6)
PFS in months, median (range)11 (4–44)5 (1–33)4 (1–24)4 (1–44)
Patients without progression at 12 months/patients with either progression or at least 12 months of follow-up (%)5/11 (45)4/19 (21)2/14 (14)11/44 (25)
  • IL-6, interleukin 6; PD-1, programmed cell death protein 1; PD-L1, programmed death ligand 1; PFS, progression-free survival; TMB, tumor mutation burden.