PD-L1 PET/CT imaging with 18 F-BMS-986,229 and 18 F-BMS-986,192 in patients with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer.
Jasper Smit, Frank J Borm, Nienke R Gerards et al.
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In 30 seconds
This multicenter clinical trial evaluated baseline PD-L1 PET/CT with two tracers in patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), comparing tumor uptake with biopsy PD-L1 immunohistochemistry (IHC) and clinical outcomes. The tracers showed similar tumor uptake: mean SUVpeak was 2.75 (SD 1.53) with 18F-BMS-986,192 and 2.68 (SD 1.78) with 18F-BMS-986,229 (p = 0.780). Uptake did not correlate with PD-L1 IHC. Exploratory analysis suggested low SUVpeak may be associated with shorter overall survival, but higher uptake did not distinguish short from long survival.
Key findings
- Mean SUVpeak was 2.75 (SD 1.53) with 18F-BMS-986,192 versus 2.68 (SD 1.78) with 18F-BMS-986,229 (p = 0.780).
- Tumor uptake did not correlate with PD-L1 IHC: mean SUVpeak was 3.77 for PD-L1 TPS < 50% versus 3.54 for PD-L1 ≥ 50% (p = 0.8175).
- Exploratory analysis found that low SUVpeak excluded long overall survival, while higher SUVpeak did not discriminate between short and long survival.
Why it matters
The findings indicate that these tracers provide comparable tumor-uptake measurements, but baseline uptake did not reproduce biopsy PD-L1 expression in this cohort. The exploratory survival signal is asymmetric and does not establish uptake as a reliable prognostic discriminator. These results help define the current limits of PD-L1 PET/CT as a potential complement to tissue assessment.
What to keep in mind
The authors describe the cohort as small. The survival analysis was exploratory, and the abstract does not report a quantitative survival effect.