ArticleScientific reports2016
Monitoring PD-L1 positive circulating tumor cells in non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with the PD-1 inhibitor Nivolumab.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 190 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
190 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Predictive Role of ctDNA and CTCs in Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Receiving Immunotherapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Circulating Tumour Cell Expression of Immune Markers as Prognostic and Therapeutic Biomarkers in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Pooled it
- Emerging Blood-Based Biomarkers for Predicting Response to Checkpoint Immunotherapy in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.Frontiers in immunology · 2020Pooled it
- Circulating tumor cells in metastatic breast cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors - a biomarker analysis of the ALICE and ICON trials.Molecular oncology · 2025Trial
- Circulating tumor cells in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients are associated with worse tumor response to checkpoint inhibitors.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2019Trial
- Isolation and molecular analysis of circulating tumor cells from lung cancer patients using a microfluidic chip type cell sorter.Cancer science · 2018Trial
- The Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Journey: From Early Promise to Lasting Impact.Journal of immunotherapy and precision oncology · 2026Review
- The immune phenotype of circulating tumor cells: from escape mechanisms to immunotherapy navigation.Biomarker research · 2026Review
- Towards liquid biopsy-based analysis of antitumour immunity.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2026Review
- NOD1/2 signaling in macrophages drives adaptive immune resistance in cancer.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Article
- Interactions Between Circulating Tumor Cells and the Immune System in Colorectal Cancer: Friends or Foes?Cancers · 2026Review
- Article
- Clinical and translational roles of circulating tumor cells in non-small cell and small cell lung cancer: a narrative review.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Review
- Genetic Alterations Involved in Immune Escape Mechanisms of Circulating Tumour Cells in Colorectal Carcinogenesis.Cancer medicine · 2026Review
- Peripheral blood biomarkers for predicting response to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors.Biomarker research · 2026Review
- Prognostic Value of Circulating Tumor Cells and Cancer Associated Macrophage-Like Cells in Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Exploratory Analysis.Oncology research · 2026Article
- Liquid biopsies for detection, characterization, and interception of therapy resistance in thoracic malignancies.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Restoring osimertinib sensitivity in EGFR-mutant NSCLC: the role of anlotinib in modulating Wnt/β-catenin/YAP pathways.American journal of cancer research · 2026Article
- Circulating tumour cells and circulating tumour DNA in head and neck cancer: from molecular insights to clinical impact.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2025Review
- Circulating tumor cells: Blood-based detection, molecular biology, and clinical applications.Cancer cell · 2025Review
130 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Controversial results on the predictive value of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) status in lung tumor tissue for response to immune checkpoint inhibitors do not allow for any conclusive consideration. Liquid biopsy might allow real-time sampling of patients for PD-L1 through the course of the disease. Twenty-four stage IV NSCLC patients included in the Expanded Access Program with Nivolumab were enrolled. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were analyzed by CellSearch with anti-human B7-H1/PD-L1 PE-conjugated antibody. PD-L1 expressing CTCs were assessed at baseline, at 3 and 6 months after starting therapy, and correlated with outcome. At baseline and at 3 months of treatment, the presence of CTCs and the expression of PD-L1 on their surface were found associated to poor patients outcome. Nevertheless, the high frequency of PD-L1 expressing CTCs hampered to discriminate the role of PD-L1 in defining prognosis. Conversely although CTCs were found in all patients 6 months after treatment, at this time patients could be dichotomized into two groups based PD-L1 expression on CTCs. Patients with PD-L1 negative CTCs all obtained a clinical benefit, while patients with PD-L1 (+) CTCs all experienced progressive disease. This suggests that the persistence of PD-L1(+) CTCs might mirror a mechanism of therapy escape.
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