Serum CD73 is a prognostic factor in patients with metastatic melanoma and is associated with response to anti-PD-1 therapy.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Inhibitors of immune checkpoint programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) receptor on T cells have shown remarkable clinical outcomes in metastatic melanoma. However, most patients are resistant to therapy. Production of extracellular adenosine, via CD73-mediated catabolism of AMP, contributes to suppress T-cell-mediated responses against cancer. In this study, we analyzed the expression and activity of soluble CD73 in sera of patients with melanoma undergoing anti-PD-1± cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 therapy.

METHODS:

Soluble CD73 expression and activity were retrospectively analyzed in serum of a total of 546 patients with melanoma from different centers before starting treatment (baseline) with anti-PD-1 agents, nivolumab or pembrolizumab, and compared with those of 96 healthy subjects. The CD73 activity was correlated with therapy response and survival of patients.

RESULTS:

Patients with melanoma show significantly higher CD73 activity and expression than those observed in healthy donors (p<0.0001). Elevated pretreatment levels of CD73 activity were associated with non-response to therapy with nivolumab or pembrolizumab. During treatment, levels of soluble CD73 activity remain unchanged from baseline and still stratify clinical responders from non-responders. High levels of serum CD73 enzymatic activity associate with reduced overall survival (OS; HR=1.36, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.78; p=0.03) as well as progression-free survival (PFS; HR=1.42, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.79, p=0.003). Further, the multivariate Cox regression analysis indicates that serum CD73 activity is an independent prognostic factor besides serum lactate dehydrogenase levels and the presence of brain metastases for both OS (p=0.009) and PFS (p=0.001).

CONCLUSION:

Our data indicate the relevance of serum CD73 in patients with advanced melanoma receiving anti-PD-1 therapy and support further investigation on targeting CD73 in combination with anti-PD-1 antibodies.

• Authors: Roberta Turiello, Mariaelena Capone, Diana Giannarelli, Elva Morretta, Maria Chiara Monti, Gabriele Madonna, Domenico Mallardo, Lucia Festino, Rosa Azzaro, Mitchell P Levesque, Laurence Imhof, Benjamin Weide, Teresa Amaral, Marc Chevrier, Antje Sucker, Piotr Rutkowski, Dirk Schadendorf, Celeste Lebbe, Jason John Luke, Kilian Wistuba-Hamprecht, Reinhard Dummer, Aldo Pinto, Silvana Morello, Paolo A Ascierto
• Journal: Journal for immunotherapy of cancer (J Immunother Cancer) Vol. 8 Issue 2 (12 2020) ISSN: 2051-1426 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 33361405 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Multicenter Study, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• GPI-Linked Proteins
• Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
• 5'-Nucleotidase
• NT5E protein, human

Topics

• 5'-Nucleotidase (blood)
• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Biomarkers, Tumor (blood)
• Female
• GPI-Linked Proteins (blood)
• Humans
• Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (therapeutic use)
• Immunotherapy (methods)
• Male
• Melanoma (blood, drug therapy)
• Middle Aged
• Prognosis
• Retrospective Studies
• Young Adult