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CASE REPORT article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1452543
This article is part of the Research Topic Clinical Implementation of Precision Oncology Data to Direct Individualized and Immunotherapy-Based Treatment Strategies View all 9 articles

Quantification of PD-L1 Expression and Tumor Mutational Burden in Biologically Distinct Advanced Pancreatic Cancers Responding to Pembrolizumab: Case Reports

Provisionally accepted
Kevin Y Li Kevin Y Li Andrew M Lowy Andrew M Lowy *Paul Fanta Paul Fanta *
  • UC San Diego Health, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The advent of checkpoint therapy is one of the most important recent advancements in cancer therapy. Though checkpoint therapy is a mainstay in some cancers, it has been largely ineffective in treating cancers of the pancreas. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are seldom responsive to checkpoint inhibition.Here we present two cases of advanced pancreatic cancers that either failed to respond or recurred following conventional treatments. Tissue from each tumor was sequenced and analyzed for PD-L1 expression. Each patient was started on checkpoint blockade after assessing for a predictive biomarker, either the combined positive score or the tumor mutational burden. In each case, checkpoint blockade led to durable radiographic responses.We therefore propose that it is reasonable to assess combined positive score and tumor mutational burden in refractory or recurrent pancreatic cancers when initiation of ICB is being considered.

    Keywords: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma, Immunotherapy, CPS, TMB, Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor

    Received: 21 Jun 2024; Accepted: 14 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Li, Lowy and Fanta. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Andrew M Lowy, UC San Diego Health, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, United States
    Paul Fanta, UC San Diego Health, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.