Anne Li May 6th, 2017
A study assessed the ability of white blood cell counts to predict whether lung cancer patients responded to treatment with nivolumab. The study included 54 patients with NSCLC who received nivolumab at a dose of 3 mg/kg every 14 days. White blood cell counts were performed at baseline, after two nivolumab cycles, and after four nivolumab cycles. The researchers compared white blood cell counts between responders and non-responders to nivolumab. The researchers found that white blood cell counts at baseline and during therapy predicted whether patients would respond to nivolumab treatment. A greater number and concentration of natural killer cells at baseline was associated with response to nivolumab, as was an increase in the number of natural killer cells during treatment. Responders to nivolumab also had a greater number and concentration of CD8 positive T cells that expressed PD-1.
See original article at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170504185213.htm