Studies of Phenotypic and Functional Characteristics of Circulating Neutrophil Subpopulations in Patients With Lung Cancer

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have been shown to be effective in metastatic lung cancer. Unfortunately, 80% of patients do not respond and show rapid disease progression. Identifying predictive biomarkers of response is essential for early adaptation of management. Circulating lymphocytes and neutrophils represent a biomarker (NLR), predictive of immunotherapy response, in particular via the measurement of the neutrophils /lymphocyte ratio. Some preclinical work suggests a role for circulating neutrophil subpopulations like MDSC (myeloid derived suppressor cells) in ICI resistance. Certain circulating neutrophil subpopulations are thought to promote tumor progression, angiogenesis and metastasis with immunosuppressive activity. Identifying these pro-tumor subpopulations could predict the response to ICI and could be a potential therapeutic target. Our goal is to characterize the circulating neutrophil subpopulations of lung cancer patients and correlate these characteristics with response and survival phenotypically and functionally.