Dr. Henick on Further Exploring the Immune Microenvironment in Lung Cancer

Brian Henick, MD, medical oncologist, associate director of Experimental Therapeutics, director of Translational Research in Aerodigestive Cancers in Medical Oncology, the Columbia University Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the importance of further exploring biomarkers in the immune microenvironment for immunotherapy in patients with lung cancer.

Although there has been a plethora of research and discourse surrounding PD-L1’s role in the use of immunotherapy in patients with lung cancer, given that it is the only go-to biomarker currently available, it is important to expand on the knowledge of biomarkers in the tumor microenvironment to get to the next level of understanding, predicting, and improving upon current treatments that are available for patients, Henick explains. Levering the knowledge of immunology currently available could help create research paths to better understand how these treatments could best be applied to patients, Henick adds.

The context of biomarkers also needs to be taken into consideration in future research, Henick continues. Context can include the patient-specific factors, such as race and ethnicity, that can impact how the immune system responds to a tumor, Henick notes. Important context to consider also includes tumor histology and the driver mutation status, Henick says, noting that differences can be observed with respect to immune cell composition and tumor type.

Immune cells are present within the tumor and their functional capacity also need to be considered, since there is likely a degree of interplay between these 2 aspects of the biology, Henick says. Taking into account what cells are present, who the patient is, and the tumor type can all play roles in determining the timing and choice of therapy. Understanding the relationship between these complex factors could help lead to an improved predictive and prognostic capacity for immune cell subsets, Henick concludes.