Nivolumab plus Carboplatin and Paclitaxel as the First-line Therapy for Advanced Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lung with Strong Programmed Death-ligand 1 Expression: A Case Report

Abstract

An 80-year-old male patient was diagnosed to have squamous cell carcinoma of the lung which had a high level of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression. He was prescribed with intravenously administered nivolumab combined with carboplatin and paclitaxel as the first-line therapy. A rapid remission was achieved with nearly total necrosis and cavitation of the original tumor. However, the successful treatment result was accompanied with pneumonitis most likely as an adverse effect of nivolumab. After discontinuation of nivolumab and starting prednisolone treatment, the pneumonitis was soon brought under control. During the treatment course, temporary exacerbation of the disease status led to an interesting differential diagnosis between hyperprogression and pseudoprogression. Tremendous efficacy of combination immunochemotherapy as the first-line treatment for squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with highly expressed PD-L1 has been well demonstrated in this case.

Identification and validation of an individualized prognostic signature of lung squamous cell carcinoma based on ferroptosis‐related genes

“… 8 However, these targets are not efficient among LUSC patients, compared to LUAD because these two NSCLC subtypes have different mutation profiles. 9 , 10 Immune checkpoint inhibitors (nivolumab, pembrolizumab) in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin are currently the first–line therapy for LUSC patients 11 , 12 , 13 and treatment with immunotherapy can significantly improve the prognosis of patients. 14 However, the strategy for immunotherapy is extremely expensive and side effects are also an inevitable issue, leading to unsatisfactory treatment outcomes for LUSC patients.…”

Increased LOXL2 expression is related to poor prognosis in lung squamous cell carcinoma

“…Drugs targeting these molecules have shown good efficacy in LUAD but not in squamous cell carcinoma. Immune checkpoint inhibitors in combination with chemotherapy remain the first-line therapy for advanced LUSC patients ( 4 ). Although this treatment strategy significantly improves the prognosis of LUSC, some serious side effects have been reported ( 5 , 6 ).…”

N6-Methyladenosine-Related Long Non-Coding RNAs Are Identified as a Potential Prognostic Biomarker for Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Validated by Real-Time PCR

“…As a result, immunotherapy has gradually shifted from second-line therapy to first-line therapy since 2013, and patients without targeted oncogene mutations have benefited from immunotherapy (Zhang et al, 2019). Paclitaxel and carboplatin combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab is the first-line treatment for LUSC at present (Fan et al, 2019;Lin et al, 2020). This method can significantly prolong the overall survival and progression-free survival of LUSC patients (Paz-Ares et al, 2018).…”