Conclusion
FAP is a potential predictive biomarker of resistance to PD-1 blockade. Further investigation is warranted to identify a strategy for targeting FAP to alleviate the immunosuppressive TME and broaden the clinical effectiveness of PD-1 blockade therapy.
Methods
A total of 135 patients with advanced NSCLC who received PD-1 blockade therapy were retrospectively analyzed. The potential associations among FAP expression, CD3 + T cell and CD8 + T cell infiltration, and clinical outcomes of immunotherapy were validated by immunohistochemistry, bioinformatic analyses, and statistical measurements.
Purpose
The identification of robust predictive biomarkers of the response to programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) blockade remains a critical concern. Here, we investigated on fibroblast activation protein (FAP) as a microenvironment-derived biomarker of clinical outcomes of PD-1 blockade therapy, and the correlation between FAP expression and T cell infiltration in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Results
FAP was widely expressed in advanced NSCLC tissues. FAP was correlated with decreased density of CD8 + T cells (Spearman's rho - 0.32, p < 0.001) and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) status. No correlations were detected between FAP and PD-L1 expression or with the density of CD3 + T cells. The patients with higher expression of FAP showed worse response rate (16.4% vs. 38.7%, p < 0.001) and worse progression-free survival (HR = 2.56, 95% CI 1.69-3.87, p < 0.001). In addition, FAP contributed to shortened overall survival in subgroups of the patients with squamous cell lung cancer (p = 0.020), PD-1 blockade monotherapy (p = 0.017), and first-line therapy (p = 0.028).