Background: This study aimed to explore associations between PDL1  polymorphisms and efficacy of apatinib for patients with previously treated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a real-world setting.
Methods: We retrospectively recruited 148 patients with previously treated advanced NSCLC from January 2015 to December 2019 continuously. Clinical efficacy in patients receiving apatinib treatment was evaluated. Adverse reactions were documented during treatment. Biological specimens of peripheral blood and cancer tissue biopsies were obtained for the genotyping of genetic variations in PDL1  and corresponding gene-mRNA expression, respectively. Univariate association analysis between the status of PDL1  genetic variations and survival was performed with Kaplan–Meier survival analysis.
Results: The objective response rate of the 148 patients was 17.6% and disease-control rate 68.9%. Prognostic data suggested that median progression-free survival (PFS) was 3.8 (95% CI 3.13– 4.47) months and median overall survival (OS) 10.5 (95% CI 9.06– 11.95) months. Regarding PDL1  genetic variation, only rs2297136 was of clinical significance. Prognosis analysis revealed that PFS and OS for the rs2297136 genotype were significantly different. Median PFS of patients with TC/CC and TT genotypes was 3 and 4.5 months, respectively (P =0.006). Median OS of the two genotypes was 9 and 11.6 months, respectively (P =0.04). Furthermore, the safety profile suggested that the most common adverse reactions were hypertension, dermal toxicity, fatigue, and oral toxicity. This study failed to find any significant association between adverse reactions and rs2297136. Interestingly, mRNA-expression analysis demonstrated that mRNA expression of PDL1  in biopsy cancer–tissue specimens was significantly different based on rs2297136-genotype status (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: The PDL1  polymorphism rs2297136 could be used as a potential biomarker for the prognosis of patients with NSCLC receiving apatinib monotherapy.
Keywords: NSCLC, apatinib, PDL1 , genetic variation, clinical outcome, safety, biomarker