ArticleCancer chemotherapy and pharmacology2023
Clinical significance of KL-6 in immune-checkpoint inhibitor treatment for non-small cell lung cancer.
Article in Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Serum Krebs von den Lungen-6 before treatment predicts the prognosis of lung cancer in Asian populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Pooled it
- Diagnostic and prognostic value of the injury-inflammation-fibrosis serum biomarker panel (KL-6, SAA, YKL-40) in lung cancer treatment-associated ILD.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Observational
- Serial KL-6 Changes in PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitor-Related Pneumonitis in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: A Single-Center Prospective Pilot Study.Tuberculosis and respiratory diseases · 2026Article
- Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Induced Insidiously Progressive, Fatal Interstitial Lung Disease.Journal of personalized medicine · 2025Article
- Krebs von den Lungen-6 surveillance in immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced pneumonitis.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2024Article
- Clinical characteristics and outcome of lung cancer in patients with fibrosing interstitial lung disease.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2024Article
- Serum KL-6 levels predict the occurrence and severity of treatment-related interstitial lung disease in lung cancer.Scientific reports · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeKrebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) functions as a tumor marker, as well as a diagnostic tool for interstitial pneumonia (IP). However, the significance of KL-6 in the immune-checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), especially in patients without IP, is unknown.
methodsThis multicenter, retrospective study, which included patients with advanced NSCLC who received ICI therapy, analyzed the association between serum KL-6 values and ICI efficacy and the association between serum KL-6 values and ICI-induced interstitial lung disease (ILD) occurrence, focusing primarily on patients without IP.
resultsIn total, 322 patients had available KL-6 values before ICI therapy. Among 202 patients without IP who received ICI monotherapy, the high-KL-6 group (≥ 500 U/mL) showed significantly shorter progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) than the low-KL-6 group (< 500 U/mL) (median: 2.1 vs. 3.6 months, p = 0.048; median: 9.2 vs. 14.5 months, p = 0.035). There was no significant difference in response rate between the KL-6 high and low groups (19% vs. 29%, p = 0.14). In the multivariate analysis, high KL-6 was a significant predictor of poor PFS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.52; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10-2.11, p = 0.012) and OS (HR, 1.51; 95% CI 1.07 - 2.13, p = 0.019) for patients treated with ICI monotherapy. There was no significant difference in the occurrence rate of ILD between the high KL-6 and low KL-6 groups in patients with (20% vs. 15%, p = 1.00) or without IP (12% vs. 12%, p = 1.00).
conclusionIn ICI monotherapy for NSCLC without IP, elevated serum KL-6 levels were associated with poorer outcomes.
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