Blood samples for immunological biomarkers
Peripheral blood was collected at study enrolment, and at monthly intervals after each cycle of treatment. PBMC was isolated using Ficoll-Paque Plus (GE Healthcare, Chicago, IL, USA) and cryopreserved until required for analysis. Ten patients had sufficient PBMC stored for analysis (screening or C1D1 (pre-treatment), and C2D1 or C3D1 (post)). Four patients had C4D1 samples collected, and one patient on long-term NMP treatment had C6D1, and C12D1 samples analysed.