Liver cancer immune anticancer drug effect, early prediction immune cell biomarker discovered
Nov 05, 2024
A new immune cell biomarker has been discovered that can predict the effectiveness of immune anticancer treatment in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, an intractable disease, only by analyzing immune cells through non-invasive blood tests.
If the test method using the biomarker is commercialized, it will be possible to easily and simply check the treatment effect by replacing existing liver biopsy, liver biopsy, and CT, and it is expected to further improve the performance of personalized precision medical treatment.
Hepatocellular carcinoma is refractory cancer, which ranks third in the world for cancer-related deaths. Recently, combination therapy of atezolizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, and bevacizumab, an angiogenesis inhibitor, has been used as the first standard treatment, but it is not effective for all patients. Therefore, the discovery of biomarkers capable of predicting responses early in treatment was urgent.
Meanwhile, a research team led by Sung Pil-soo and Han Ji-won, a professor of gastroenterology at Catholic University of Korea's Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, analyzed the dynamic changes of T cells in the initial peripheral blood to confirm the effect after treatment with atezolizumab-bevacizumab combination therapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Analysis of peripheral blood monocytes before and 3 weeks after treatment in 65 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma revealed significant changes in the frequency and phenotype of CD8+ T cells, which are anti-cancer immune cells.
Especially among T cells, increased expression of protein Ki-67 associated with cell proliferation and protein TIGIT regulating immune response was noticeable in PD-1+CD8+ T cells found in cancer. These initial dynamic changes in T cells were significantly correlated with patients' long-term progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and objective response rate (ORR). When TIGIT expression was high, progression-free survival and overall survival were long, and in the group with high Ki-67 expression, the objective response rate was 34.9%, which was significantly higher compared to 4.5% in the group without Ki-67 expression. This means that the patient's long-term prognosis and treatment effect can be predicted at the beginning of treatment.
This study is of great significance in that it analyzed the activation pattern of immune cells for the first time through a sophisticated 'multicolor flow cytometry' technique using immunotherapy blood from liver cancer patients. In addition, it is evaluated as opening a new horizon for personalized precision medical care in that it can predict the long-term prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma patients through dynamic biomarkers at the beginning of treatment.
Professor Seong Pil-soo said, "Immunity-based chemotherapy has been widely used in patients with advanced liver cancer since 2022, but the response rate is still around 30%, and some patients have faster tumor progression after treatment."It is expected that it will greatly contribute to the establishment of a fast customized treatment strategy in that it has significant implications for presenting a new dynamic biomarker that can predict the effectiveness and objective response rate of immuno-oncology treatment in patients with hepatocellular cancer at the beginning of treatment, and that long-term treatment effects can be predicted with non-invasive blood tests within 3 weeks of treatment."
Professor Han Ji-won added, "The results of this study will enable early prediction of the effectiveness and objective response rate of immuno-oncology treatment, and based on this, we will quickly establish the best treatment strategy for individual patients." "We will develop it into an early prediction biomarker that can be used in the clinical field through verification studies on more patients in the future."
Meanwhile, the results of the study, which was conducted by the Korea Research Foundation's excellent new research and the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Promotion Agency's support for the global doctor scientist training project, were published in the recent issue of the official international journal of the Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Association. This study is the first achievement made at the Catholic Liver Research Institute by a team of medical scientists, Sung Pil-soo and Han Ji-won, a liver cancer specialist.
If the test method using the biomarker is commercialized, it will be possible to easily and simply check the treatment effect by replacing existing liver biopsy, liver biopsy, and CT, and it is expected to further improve the performance of personalized precision medical treatment.
Hepatocellular carcinoma is refractory cancer, which ranks third in the world for cancer-related deaths. Recently, combination therapy of atezolizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, and bevacizumab, an angiogenesis inhibitor, has been used as the first standard treatment, but it is not effective for all patients. Therefore, the discovery of biomarkers capable of predicting responses early in treatment was urgent.
Meanwhile, a research team led by Sung Pil-soo and Han Ji-won, a professor of gastroenterology at Catholic University of Korea's Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, analyzed the dynamic changes of T cells in the initial peripheral blood to confirm the effect after treatment with atezolizumab-bevacizumab combination therapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Analysis of peripheral blood monocytes before and 3 weeks after treatment in 65 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma revealed significant changes in the frequency and phenotype of CD8+ T cells, which are anti-cancer immune cells.
Especially among T cells, increased expression of protein Ki-67 associated with cell proliferation and protein TIGIT regulating immune response was noticeable in PD-1+CD8+ T cells found in cancer. These initial dynamic changes in T cells were significantly correlated with patients' long-term progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and objective response rate (ORR). When TIGIT expression was high, progression-free survival and overall survival were long, and in the group with high Ki-67 expression, the objective response rate was 34.9%, which was significantly higher compared to 4.5% in the group without Ki-67 expression. This means that the patient's long-term prognosis and treatment effect can be predicted at the beginning of treatment.
This study is of great significance in that it analyzed the activation pattern of immune cells for the first time through a sophisticated 'multicolor flow cytometry' technique using immunotherapy blood from liver cancer patients. In addition, it is evaluated as opening a new horizon for personalized precision medical care in that it can predict the long-term prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma patients through dynamic biomarkers at the beginning of treatment.
Professor Seong Pil-soo said, "Immunity-based chemotherapy has been widely used in patients with advanced liver cancer since 2022, but the response rate is still around 30%, and some patients have faster tumor progression after treatment."It is expected that it will greatly contribute to the establishment of a fast customized treatment strategy in that it has significant implications for presenting a new dynamic biomarker that can predict the effectiveness and objective response rate of immuno-oncology treatment in patients with hepatocellular cancer at the beginning of treatment, and that long-term treatment effects can be predicted with non-invasive blood tests within 3 weeks of treatment."
Professor Han Ji-won added, "The results of this study will enable early prediction of the effectiveness and objective response rate of immuno-oncology treatment, and based on this, we will quickly establish the best treatment strategy for individual patients." "We will develop it into an early prediction biomarker that can be used in the clinical field through verification studies on more patients in the future."
Meanwhile, the results of the study, which was conducted by the Korea Research Foundation's excellent new research and the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Promotion Agency's support for the global doctor scientist training project, were published in the recent issue of the official international journal of the Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Association. This study is the first achievement made at the Catholic Liver Research Institute by a team of medical scientists, Sung Pil-soo and Han Ji-won, a liver cancer specialist.
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