2.1. Patients
NSCLC, pembrolizumab, Tumor, cancer stage, hepatic and renal function, Cancer
TUMOR, MAY, NSCLC, ONCOLOGY, AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE, CANCER
We obtained approval from the institutional review board for this study. The review board waived the requirement for written informed consent for this study, as it is a retrospective study with minimal risk. Patients were identified using a retrospective data access request for NSCLC patients referred to the single center at British Columbia Cancer from 1 January 2015, to 31 May 2019. We consecutively recruited patients meeting the following eligibility criteria: males and females from all races and ethnic groups who received first-line monotherapy with pembrolizumab for stage IIIB or IV NSCLC without EGFR mutation or translocation of the ALK gene and with PD-L1 expression ≥50% (as determined by the Stand-of-Care IHC assay used at our institution). All had adequate hepatic and renal function. All must have had a baseline staging CT ≤ 6 weeks prior to starting treatment and the first follow-up (FU) CT within 9 to 12 weeks after treatment initiation for the response assessment. Patients were excluded if they received concurrent chemotherapy, any other form of immunotherapy, or radiation; had an active, known, or suspected autoimmune disease; or received long-term immunosuppressive therapy or systemic corticosteroids (requiring more than 10 mg prednisone/day or equivalent).The baseline demographic characteristics were collected, including age, sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG), and smoking status and pack years (PY), where a light to never smoker was defined as a patient who had smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes. Tumor histologic subtype and cancer stage at presentation were also collected.