Journal Thoracic Oncology

Abstracts Journal of Thoracic Oncology • Volume 12 Issue S1 January 2017
were classified according to immune related Response Criteria. CfDNA was
extracted from plasma using the Circulating Nucleic Acid Kit (Qiagen). The
quantification of cfDNA (ng/ml plasma) was performed by qPCR using hTERT
single copy gene. Kaplan-Meier survival function was used to compare the
survival curves from cfDNA at baseline and at the time of first evaluation
(after 4 cycles of Nivolumab). Results: Among the 74 enrolled patients 72
were evaluable for cfDNA survival analyses; 14 experienced early death, 25
progressive disease (PD), nine partial response (PR),19 stable disease (SD)
and five were not evaluable for response. 27 out of the 28 responsive patients
(PR+SD) are still alive at the time of analysis. In 25 evaluable patients with
PD after the first radiological evaluation, median cfDNA < 786 ng/ml was
significantly associated with an improved median survival as compared to
cfDNA ≥786 ng/ml (295 vs 96 days respectively, HR=0.09290, 95% CI 0.019987-
0.4322, p-value: 0.0052); similar results have been obtained in the subset of
25 patients progressing at best response (p-value: 0.0042). Analyzing the OS
of the 72 evaluable patients, median survival of those with cfDNA786
ng/ml (HR 0.3559, 95%CI 0.1674-0.7568, p-value 0.0035). Conclusion: Our
preliminary data show a significantly improved survival for NSCLC patients
treated with Nivolumab having cfDNA