Researchers discovered that higher levels of tumor-associate immune cells TAICs expressing programmed death-ligand 1 PD-L1 were linked with longer complete survival and response to drugs.
Patients with higher levels of circulating CD8 and lower level of regulatory T cells were associated with better response to the treatments based on the blood samples before Immunotherapy.
This shows that immune cells in the microenvironments close to the tumor could determine how cancer patients will respond to treatment.
According to Dr Robert Ferris, determining the nature of cells and how treatment affects them will improve the effectiveness of therapies.