TY - JOUR
T1 - Linkage between Psychological Factors and Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy
T2 - A Preliminary Study
AU - Cohen, Miri
AU - Shamay, Yosi
AU - Czamanski-Cohen, Johanna
AU - Shulman, Katerina
AU - Keren Rosenberg, Shoshana
AU - Abu-Amna, Mahmoud
AU - Turgeman, Ilit
AU - Merkin Livshits, Ludmila
AU - Birenboim, Revital
AU - Dines, Monica
AU - Bar-Sela, Gil
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/10/17
Y1 - 2023/10/17
N2 - Substantial evidence has accumulated showing that psychological distress affects immune regulation, the response to cancer treatment, and survival. The effect of psychological parameters on the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment has not yet been studied. This preliminary study aimed to (a) examine the associations between psychological factors and responses to ICI treatment and (b) assess the associations between psychological factors and blood measures of sPD-1, sCTLA-4, and cytokines that may alter the effect of ICI treatment. The participants were 62 individuals with advanced cancer, aged 18 years or older, who were candidates for ICI treatment as a new line of treatment. The participants answered questionnaires and provided blood samples and medical data prior to the start of ICI treatment and 3 months after. Perceived health status was positively associated with better responses to ICI treatment. In the subsample of participants with biomarkers, worse health-related quality of life was associated with higher IL-6 and sCTLA-4; emotional distress and sleep difficulties were associated with higher sCTLA-4; and better perceived health was associated with lower IL-6 and TNFα. sPD-1 was not associated with psychological measures. This preliminary study found for the first time that some psychological measures could be linked to responses to cancer treatment, possibly via pro-inflammatory cytokines and sCTLA-4.
AB - Substantial evidence has accumulated showing that psychological distress affects immune regulation, the response to cancer treatment, and survival. The effect of psychological parameters on the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment has not yet been studied. This preliminary study aimed to (a) examine the associations between psychological factors and responses to ICI treatment and (b) assess the associations between psychological factors and blood measures of sPD-1, sCTLA-4, and cytokines that may alter the effect of ICI treatment. The participants were 62 individuals with advanced cancer, aged 18 years or older, who were candidates for ICI treatment as a new line of treatment. The participants answered questionnaires and provided blood samples and medical data prior to the start of ICI treatment and 3 months after. Perceived health status was positively associated with better responses to ICI treatment. In the subsample of participants with biomarkers, worse health-related quality of life was associated with higher IL-6 and sCTLA-4; emotional distress and sleep difficulties were associated with higher sCTLA-4; and better perceived health was associated with lower IL-6 and TNFα. sPD-1 was not associated with psychological measures. This preliminary study found for the first time that some psychological measures could be linked to responses to cancer treatment, possibly via pro-inflammatory cytokines and sCTLA-4.
KW - CTLA-4
KW - PD-1
KW - cancer
KW - cytokines
KW - emotional distress
KW - health-related quality of life
KW - immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175044960&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/cells12202471
DO - 10.3390/cells12202471
M3 - Article
C2 - 37887315
AN - SCOPUS:85175044960
SN - 2073-4409
VL - 12
JO - Cells
JF - Cells
IS - 20
M1 - 2471
ER -