驱动基因阳性且PD-L1高表达的非小细胞肺癌患者病理特征及靶向治疗疗效评估的真实世界研究

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Targeted therapy for patients with driver genes positive and immunotherapy for patients with driver gene-negative but high programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression are the standards of first-line treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The treatment options for patients with driver gene positive and high PD-L1 expression are still worth exploring. METHODS: The characteristics of 315 patients with NSCLC were identified to analyze the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with driver gene positive and high PD-L1 expression, and the efficacy of targeted therapy. RESULTS: Among the 315 patients, the total positive rate of driver genes was 62.2%, and the high PD-L1 expression rate (≥50.0%) was 11.2%. The proportion of patients with driver gene positive and high PD-L1 expression was 10.7%. PD-L1 was highly expressed in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation, KRAS mutation, ALK fusion, BRAF mutation, and MET 14 exon skip mutation, the proportions were 7.8% (11/141), 18.2% (4/22), and 23.1%, (3/13), 50.0% (2/4) and 100.0% (1/1) respectively. EGFR mutation positive with PD-L1 high expression was mainly in patients with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma. KRAS mutation positive with PD-L1 high expression was mainly in patients with a history of smoking. Among them, two patients were followed in detail for targeted therapy, who with ALK fusion-positive and PD-L1 high expression (90.0%), EGFR L858R mutation and PD-L1 high expression (70.0%) respectively. The total OS of the patients was 5 months, 2 months. CONCLUSION: The high PD-L1 expression rate in NSCLC patients with different driver gene mutations was variable, which maybe correlated with distinct clinicopathological characteristics. Patients with sensitive mutations and high PD-L1 expression may be less benefit from targeted therapy and have poor prognosis.