2025 Targeted Therapies of Lung Cancer (TTLC) - Posters-PP01.01 Evolving Survival Outcomes In Pulmonary Sarcomatoid Cancer in the era of Immunotherapy

Pdf Summary

Immunotherapy (IO) has significantly improved survival outcomes in patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), as shown by increased 5-year overall survival rates in studies like KEYNOTE-189 and KEYNOTE-407, where pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy resulted in better outcomes than chemotherapy alone. However, there is limited data on the efficacy of IO in rarer NSCLC subtypes, such as Pulmonary Sarcomatoid Carcinoma (PSC), a notably aggressive and chemotherapy-resistant subtype.<br /><br />PSC encompasses several histologies, including pleomorphic carcinoma and pulmonary blastoma, and demonstrates poor survival rates. Immunotherapy has shown significant benefits for patients with metastatic sarcomatoid NSCLC, underscoring its potential inclusion in treatment regimens, especially for advanced-stage disease.<br /><br />To further understand PSC treatment and outcomes, a multi-institutional retrospective study drawing from the National Cancer Database analyzed cases from 2016 to 2022. The study focused on the survival impact of immunotherapy across NSCLC subtypes, particularly PSC, using Kaplan-Meier and Cox Models to compare overall survival.<br /><br />The study included 3,188 PSC patients, of which 3,089 had available staging data. The median age was 70 years, with 43.8% females and 58% males, predominantly white (83.5%). Pleomorphic carcinoma was the prevalent subtype. Immunotherapy use in stage IV PSC patients demonstrated a significantly improved median overall survival (mOS) of 1.7 years compared to 0.7 years for non-immunotherapy recipients.<br /><br />However, for stage II and III patients, improvement differences between immunotherapy and chemotherapy alone were not statistically significant. Additional research with prospective trials is needed to develop a preferred treatment algorithm for PSC patients, particularly in earlier disease stages.

Asset Subtitle

Faith Abodunrin

Keywords

Immunotherapy

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

NSCLC

Pembrolizumab

Pulmonary Sarcomatoid Carcinoma

PSC

Survival Rates

Chemotherapy

Retrospective Study

Kaplan-Meier