Quantitative spatial profiling of PD-1/PD-L1 interaction and HLA-DR/IDO1 to predict outcomes to anti-PD-1 in metastatic melanoma (MM). Meeting Abstract (Web of Science)

abstract

  • 9517 Background: Although PD-1/L1 axis directed therapies induce durable responses in some mm patients (pts), biomarkers of response remain elusive. We hypothesized that quantifying key immune suppression mechanisms within the tumor microenvironment would provide superior predictors of response to anti-PD-1 compared with single marker assessment. Methods: Pre-treatment tumor biopsies from 124 mm pts treated with anti-PD-1 at 7 academic centers were fluorescently stained with multiple immune markers in discovery (n = 24) and validation (n = 100) cohorts. Selected biomarker signatures, PD-1/PD-L1 interaction score (proportion of PD-1+ cells co-localized with PD-L1) and IDO1/HLA-DR co-expression were evaluated for anti-PD-1 treatment response and survival. Slides were imaged using Vectra; biomarker positive cells and their co-localization were objectively quantified in pathologist-selected regions using novel Automated Quantitative Analysis (AQUA) algorithms. Results: In the discovery cohort, high levels of PD-1/PD-L1 interaction score and/or IDO1/HLA-DR coexpression was strongly positively associated with response to anti-PD-1 (p = 0.0005). In contrast, other individual biomarkers (PD-1, PD-L1, CD8) were not associated with response or survival (p > 0.10). This finding was replicated in the validation cohort: pts with high PD-1/PD-L1 and/or IDO1/HLA-DR were more likely to respond to treatment (p = 0.009). These pts also experienced a three-fold increase in progression free survival (hazards ratio (HR) = 0.33; p = 0.003) and overall survival (HR = 0.34; p = 0.004). Multivariate analyses revealed that these findings were independent of BRAF mutation, stage, LDH and prior therapy. In the combined cohort (n = 124), 80% of responding pts had higher levels of PD-1/PD-L1 interaction scores and/or IDO1/HLA-DR. In contrast, PD-L1 expression alone (≥1% or ≥50%) was not predictive of PFS or OS (p > 0.1). Conclusions: This novel multiplexed method profiling key tumor-immune suppression pathways identified mm pts likely to respond to anti-PD-1 therapy. This method could help stratify patients for PD-1 monotherapy and be useful in guiding future clinical trials.

authors

  • Johnson, Douglas Buckner
  • Bordeaux, Jennifer
  • Kim, Ju Young
  • Vaupel, Christine
  • Rimm, David L.
  • Ho, Thai Huu
  • Joseph, Richard Wayne
  • Daud, Adil
  • Conry, Robert Martin
  • Gaughan, Elizabeth M
  • Dimou, Anastasios
  • Balko, Justin M.
  • Smithy, James William
  • Witte, John S
  • McKee, Svetlana B
  • Dominiak, Nicole Rachel
  • Dabbas, Bashar
  • Hall, Jeff
  • Dakappagari, Naveen

publication date

  • 2017

published in

number of pages

  • 1

start page

  • 9517

end page

  • 9517

volume

  • 35

issue

  • 15_suppl