CASE REPORT article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1547388
This article is part of the Research TopicResponse/Resistance to PD-1 Axis Inhibitors: Focus on the Tumor MicroenvironmentView all 13 articles
Case report: Combined PD-1 and tyrosine kinase blockade stabilizes refractory pancreatic cancer guided by the spatial structure of tumor immune microenvironment
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Abdominal Oncology, Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- 2State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Biotherapy, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
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Pancreatic cancer is characterized by a poor prognosis and limited responsiveness to conventional therapies, presenting a substantial therapeutic challenge. Although chemotherapy remains the cornerstone of systemic treatment, options become scarce once frontline therapies fail. While targeted therapies and immunotherapies have emerged as potential alternatives, their efficacy in pancreatic cancer is not well established. As research advances, exploring the tumor immune microenvironment(TiME) of pancreatic cancer is crucial and holds significant potential for developing novel treatment strategies.We report a case of a pancreatic cancer patient who, after the failure of frontline and second-line treatments, was treated with a pioneering combination of targeted therapy and immunotherapy to modulate the unique TiME. The targeted agent, surufatinib, is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor(TKI) that targets vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) 1-3, fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1), and colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF-1R). The immunotherapy agent, toripalimab, is an immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). Remarkably, the patient benefitted from this regimen, exhibiting stable disease, improved clinical symptoms, and prolonged progression-free survival. This case highlights the potential of personalized therapy in treating pancreatic cancer, particularly in patients with distinctive features of the TiME that may predict favorable responses to immunotherapy.Personalized strategies that consider the spatial structure and composition of the TiME may offer a promising avenue for achieving long-term progression-free survival in patients with pancreatic cancer.
Keywords: Pancreatic Cancer, Tumor immune microenvironment, Spatial structure, Immunotherapy, targeted therapy
Received: 18 Dec 2024; Accepted: 10 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Ma, Zhang, Leng, Cheng, Zhao and Cao. 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:
Ke Cheng, Department of Abdominal Oncology, Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Chengjian Zhao, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Biotherapy, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
Dan Cao, Department of Abdominal Oncology, Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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