Immunotherapy yields complete response in stage IV lung cancer

A new case report was published in Oncoscience (Volume 11) on October 8, 2024, entitled, “Complete and long-lasting response to immunotherapy in a stage IV non-small cell lung cancer with brain metastasis.”

As highlighted in the abstract of this report, approximately 20% of lung cancer patients have brain metastases at diagnosis, which is associated with a worse prognosis and negatively impacts quality of life. The emergence of new systemic treatment options, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and targeted therapies, has changed the prognosis for stage IV lung cancer patients. However, the impact of treatment sequencing-;both local and systemic-;in patients with stage IV lung cancer and brain metastases remains unclear.

Researchers Mafalda Costa and Helena Magalhães from the Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital Pedro Hispano in Matosinhos, Portugal present the case of a 51-year-old man diagnosed with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and brain metastasis. After undergoing whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT), the patient achieved both intracranial and extracranial complete response following second-line treatment with an immune checkpoint inhibitor. Currently, he has an overall survival of 87 months and a progression-free survival of 73 months, maintaining an optimal quality of life.

“We hypothesized that treatment sequencing of WBRT and immunotherapy could explain this unexpected outcome.”