Table 1 Characteristics of advanced NSCLC patients treated with checkpoint inhibitors
|  | Total population (n = 104) | Patients with CTC at T0 (n = 33) | Patients without CTC at T0 (n = 71) |
|---|---|---|---|
n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |
Age | |||
 Median (range) | 65 (29–83) | 67 (41–83) | 65 (29–80) |
Gender | |||
 Male | 58 (44) | 17 (51) | 41 (58) |
 Female | 46 (56) | 16 (49) | 30 (42) |
ECOG PS* | |||
 0 | 50 (48) | 9 (27) | 41 (58) |
 1 | 52 (50) | 23 (70) | 29 (41) |
 2 | 2 (2) | 1 (3) | 1 (1) |
Smoking status | |||
 Smokers | 94 (90) | 28 (85) | 66 (93) |
 Non smokers | 3 (3) | 2 (6) | 1 (1) |
 Unknown | 7 (7) | 3 (9) | 4 (6) |
Stage | |||
 III | 12 (11) | 1 (3) | 1 (16) |
 IV | 92 (89) | 32 (97) | 60 (84) |
Histology | |||
 Adenocarcinoma | 76 (73) | 24 (72) | 52 (73) |
 Squamous cell carcinoma | 27 (26) | 8 (24) | 19 (27) |
 Carcinosarcoma | 1 (1) | 1 (4) | 0 (0) |
Therapy line | |||
 1 | 4 (4) | 3 (4) | 1 (3) |
 2 | 87 (84) | 59 (83) | 28 (85) |
 ≥3 | 13 (12) | 9 (13) | 4 (12) |
Metastatic sites | |||
 0 | 15 (14) | 2 (6) | 13 (18) |
 1 | 37 (36) | 13 (41) | 24 (34) |
 2 | 35 (34) | 12 (38) | 23 (32) |
 3 | 10 (10) | 4 (13) | 6 (9) |
 > 3 | 6 (6) | 1 (3) | 5 (7) |
Mutations a | |||
 None identified | 46 (44) | 18 (55) | 39 (55) |
 KRAS | 33 (32) | 9 (27) | 24 (34) |
 Other | 14 (13) | 6 (18) | 8 (11) |
PD-L1 b | |||
 <  1% | 44 (43) | 16 (49) | 28 (39) |
 1–49% expression | 19 (18) | 7 (21) | 12 (17) |
 ≥50% expression | 18 (17) | 5 (15) | 13 (18) |
 Not evaluable c | 23 (22) | 5 (15) | 18 (25) |
Therapy | |||
 Nivolumab | 89 (85) | 29 (85) | 60 (83) |
 Pembrolizumab | 8 (8) | 2 (6) | 6 (9) |
 Atezolizumab | 5 (5) | 1 (3) | 4 (7) |
 Ipilimumab/Nivolumab | 2 (2) | 1 (3) | 1 (1) |
Response d | |||
 Complete Response | 4 (4) | 0 (0) | 4 (6) |
 Partial Response | 26 (25) | 7 (21) | 19 (27) |
 Stable Disease | 24 (23) | 5 (15) | 19 (27) |
 Progressive Disease | 50 (48) | 21 (61) | 29 (39) |
Durable response e | |||
 > 6 months | 64 (62) | 7 (21) | 33 (46) |
 < 6 months | 40 (38) | 26 (79) | 38 (54) |