Chemo-immunotherapy is the current first-line treatment for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), but survival benefits are modest. The authors aimed to evaluate the safety, antitumor activity and biomarkers of first-line camrelizumab and apatinib plus chemotherapy in untreated ES-SCLC patients. In this single-arm trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05001412), eligible patients received 2 cycles of etoposide and carboplatin (EC) as induction treatment followed by 2–4 cycles of camrelizumab, apatinib plus EC, then maintenance camrelizumab plus apatinib. Primary endpoint was safety. Secondary endpoints included objective response rate (ORR), duration of response, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Targeted sequencing and whole transcriptome sequencing were performed to explore biomarkers. All enrolled 40 patients were treated and analyzed for safety. During the entire treatment, treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) occurred in 40 patients (100%), and 30 (75.0%) were grade ≥3. The most common grade ≥3 TEAEs were neutropenia (35.0%), anemia (15.0%) and increased alanine aminotransferase (15.0%). No treatment-related deaths occurred. Among 36 evaluable patients, ORR was 88.9% (95% CI: 73.9%–96.9%), median PFS was 7.3 months (95% CI: 6.6–9.2) and median OS was 17.3 months (11.8-not reached). Mutations in RB1, high levels of tumor mutation burden, natural killer cells, and interferons, and low levels of cancer-associated fibroblasts, correlated with prolonged PFS. Induction chemotherapy followed by camrelizumab, apatinib plus EC demonstrated acceptable safety and promising antitumor activity in untreated ES-SCLC patients. The identified biomarkers need further validation.

An immune system defect makes affected individuals vulnerable to severe viral diseases such as influenza or COVID-19. It is caused by the body's own antibodies, which inhibit important defense proteins known as type I interferons. UZH researchers have now generated “decoy molecules” that intercept these autoantibodies and restore the immune defense – the foundation for a possible new therapy.

The genetic modification of the Natural Killer (NK) cells, lymphocytes forming part of the body’s immune system, would make it possible to retain their capacity of eliminating tumour cells in solid tumours

Some types of tumours secrete two molecules, TGF-β and Activin A, which supress the capacity of NK cells to attack them

A team of researchers from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Pompeu Fabra University has developed a new tool that allows modifying these NK cells to make them immune to the tumour’s defense mechanism

A technique to improve the precision of prostate cancer surgery means that almost twice as many men preserve their erectile function compared to those undergoing standard surgery, according to results from a clinical trial led by researchers from UCL and UCLH.