Dr. Carbone on Potential Biomarkers in Lung Cancer

David P. Carbone, MD, PhD, a professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses potential biomarkers in lung cancer.

Since both anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 are targeting specific receptors or ligands, Carbone says, the expression of these targets are candidate biomarkers. The best data is on the tumor expression of PD-L1.

Carbone says the majority of responses occur in patients with immunohistochemical evidence of expression. However, as with any immunohistochemical test, it is antibody-dependent and variable. As in most studies, there are some responses in patients who are negative, Carbone says, which could be an assay problem.

Carbone says physicians do not seem to be ready to exclude PD-L1-negative patients. Given the limited number of options in lung cancer, the option of excluding patients from therapy by lack of immunohistochemical positivity is still experimental, Carbone says, but it i the best candidate biomarker that exists.