Clinicopathologic correlates of first-line pembrolizumab effectiveness in patients with advanced NSCLC and a PD-L1 expression of ≥ 50%

Background Single-agent pembrolizumab represents the standard first-line option for metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with a PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1) expression of ≥ 50%. Methods We conducted a multicenter retrospective study aimed at evaluating the clinicopathologic correlates of pembrolizumab effectiveness in patients with treatment-naïve NSCLC and a PD-L1 expression of ≥ 50%. Results One thousand and twenty-six consecutive patients were included. The objective response rate (ORR) was 44.5% (95% CI 40.2–49.1), while the median progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 7.9 months (95% CI 6.9–9.5; 599 events) and 17.2 months (95% CI 15.3–22.3; 598 censored patients), respectively. ECOG-PS ≥ 2 ( p < 0.0001) and bone metastases ( p = 0.0003) were confirmed to be independent predictors of a worse ORR. Former smokers ( p = 0.0002), but not current smokers ( p = 0.0532) were confirmed to have a significantly prolonged PFS compared to never smokers at multivariate analysis. ECOG-PS ( p < 0.0001), bone metastases ( p < 0.0001) and liver metastases ( p < 0.0001) were also confirmed to be independent predictors of a worse PFS. Previous palliative RT was significantly related to a shortened OS ( p = 0.0104), while previous non-palliative RT was significantly related to a prolonged OS ( p = 0.0033). Former smokers ( p = 0.0131), but not current smokers ( p = 0.3433) were confirmed to have a significantly prolonged OS compared to never smokers. ECOG-PS ( p < 0.0001), bone metastases ( p < 0.0001) and liver metastases ( p < 0.0001) were also confirmed to be independent predictors of a shortened OS. A PD-L1 expression of ≥ 90%, as assessed by recursive partitioning, was associated with significantly higher ORR ( p = 0.0204), and longer and OS ( p = 0.0346) at multivariable analysis. Conclusion Pembrolizumab was effective in a large cohort of NSCLC patients treated outside of clinical trials. Questions regarding the effectiveness in clinical subgroups, such as patients with poorer PS and with liver/bone metastases, still remain to be addressed. We confirmed that the absence of tobacco exposure, and the presence of bone and liver metastasis are associated with worse clinical outcomes to pembrolizumab. Increasing levels of PD-L1 expression may help identifying a subset of patients who derive a greater benefit from pembrolizumab monotherapy.