ArticleJournal of translational medicine2018
Can IDO activity predict primary resistance to anti-PD-1 treatment in NSCLC?
Article in Journal of translational medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
80 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 126 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut OncoMicrobiome Signatures (GOMS) as next-generation biomarkers for cancer immunotherapy.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Emerging Blood-Based Biomarkers for Predicting Response to Checkpoint Immunotherapy in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.Frontiers in immunology · 2020Pooled it
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- Patient-derived three-dimensional lung tumor models to evaluate response to therapy.NPJ precision oncology · 2026Article
- ILC imbalance - a new piece in the gut-kidney axis puzzle.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Integrating chemokine signatures and multi-omic biomarkers to predict immunotherapy response in non-small cell lung cancer: a comprehensive narrative review.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Harnessing IDO inhibitors to optimize cancer immunotherapy.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Review
- Immunotherapy in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: PD-L1 and beyond.Pathologica · 2025Review
- Mechanisms of primary resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2025Review
- Impact of Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase Enzyme Activity in Neuroendocrine Tumors.Neuroendocrinology · 2025Article
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- Preoperative Peripheral Blood Serotonin and Kynurenine Levels Are Associated With Oncological Outcomes in Glioblastoma IDH-wt Patients.International journal of tryptophan research : IJTR · 2025Article
- Roles of the tumor microenvironment in the resistance to programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitors in patients with gastric cancer.World journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2024Review
- Critical role of the gut microbiota in immune responses and cancer immunotherapy.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2024Review
- High indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase transcript levels predict better outcome after front-line cancer immunotherapy.iScience · 2024Article
- Identification and validation of tryptophan-related gene signatures to predict prognosis and immunotherapy response in lung adenocarcinoma reveals a critical role for PTTG1.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Hydrophobic ion pairing and microfluidic nanoprecipitation enable efficient nanoformulation of a small molecule indolamine 2, 3-dioxygenase inhibitor immunotherapeutic.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2024Article
- Targeting TREM1 augments antitumor T cell immunity by inhibiting myeloid-derived suppressor cells and restraining anti-PD-1 resistance.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2023Article
20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundImmune checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized the treatment paradigm of highly lethal malignancies like advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), demonstrating long-term tumour control and extended patient survival. Unfortunately, only 25-30% of patients experience a durable benefit, while the vast majority demonstrate primary or acquired resistance. Recently, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity has been proposed as a possible mechanism of resistance to anti-PD-1 treatment leading to an immunosuppressive microenvironment.
methodsPre-treatment serum concentrations of tryptophan (trp) and kynurenine (kyn) were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in NSCLC patients treated with second-line nivolumab. The IDO activity was expressed with kyn/trp ratio. The associations between kyn/trp ratio and early progression, performance status (PS), age, sex, brain metastases, pleural effusion, progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using Spearman test and Mann-Whitney test.
resultsTwenty-six NSCLC patients were included in our study; 14 of them (54%) presented early progression (< 3 months) to nivolumab treatment. The median value of kyn/trp ratio was 0.06 µg/ml and the median value of quinolinic acid was 68.45 ng/ml. A significant correlation between early progression and higher kyn/trp ratio and quinolinic acid concentration was observed (p = 0.017 and p = 0.005, respectively). Patients presenting lower values of kyn/trp ratio and quinolinic acid levels showed longer PFS (median PFS not reached versus 3 months; HR: 0.3; p = 0.018) and OS (median OS not reached vs 3 months; HR: 0.18; p = 0.0005).
conclusionIDO activity, expressed as kyn/trp ratio, is associated with response to immunotherapy; in particular, higher kyn/trp ratio could predict resistance to anti-PD-1 treatment. These preliminary results suggest the possibility of using anti-PD-1 plus IDO inhibitor in those patients with high level of kyn/trp ratio.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.