Tang Y, Cui Y, Li L, et al. - In advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases, accurate prediction of the clinical efficacy of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors as well as prognosis can be achieved by using an easy, cost-effective, and novel combination score (proposed in this study) based on the dynamics of an early serum tumor marker (STM) and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR).

• A retrospective review of 124 patients with advanced NSCLC who received PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors between September 2017 and August 2020.

• An objective response rate (ORR) of 22.8%, and median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of 21.6 and 14.9 months, respectively, were reported.

• A significantly improved ORR and durable clinical benefit was observed in patients with low combination scores vs those with intermediate or high scores.

• A combination score based on the leading STM and NLR and their dynamic alterations was constructed which was revealed to be an independent indicator of PFS and OS in a multivariate model.

• A greater predictive power was shown by the combination score (AUC = 0.706) vs either the posttreatment NLR (AUC = 0.668) or the leading STM change (AUC = 0.648) alone.