- Skoulidis, Ferdinandos;
- Goldberg, Michael;
- Greenawalt, Danielle;
- Hellmann, Matthew;
- Awad, Mark;
- Gainor, Justin;
- Schrock, Alexa;
- Hartmaier, Ryan;
- Trabucco, Sally;
- Gay, Laurie;
- Ali, Siraj;
- Elvin, Julia;
- Singal, Gaurav;
- Ross, Jeffrey;
- Fabrizio, David;
- Szabo, Peter;
- Chang, Han;
- Sasson, Ariella;
- Srinivasan, Sujaya;
- Kirov, Stefan;
- Szustakowski, Joseph;
- Vitazka, Patrik;
- Edwards, Robin;
- Bufill, Jose;
- Sharma, Neelesh;
- Ou, Sai-Hong;
- Peled, Nir;
- Spigel, David;
- Rizvi, Hira;
- Aguilar, Elizabeth;
- Carter, Brett;
- Erasmus, Jeremy;
- Halpenny, Darragh;
- Plodkowski, Andrew;
- Long, Niamh;
- Nishino, Mizuki;
- Denning, Warren;
- Galan-Cobo, Ana;
- Hamdi, Haifa;
- Hirz, Taghreed;
- Tong, Pan;
- Wang, Jing;
- Rodriguez-Canales, Jaime;
- Villalobos, Pamela;
- Parra, Edwin;
- Kalhor, Neda;
- Sholl, Lynette;
- Sauter, Jennifer;
- Jungbluth, Achim;
- Mino-Kenudson, Mari;
- Azimi, Roxana;
- Elamin, Yasir;
- Zhang, Jianjun;
- Leonardi, Giulia;
- Wong, Kwok-Kin;
- Lee, J;
- Papadimitrakopoulou, Vassiliki;
- Wistuba, Ignacio;
- Miller, Vincent;
- Frampton, Garrett;
- Wolchok, Jedd;
- Shaw, Alice;
- Jänne, Pasi;
- Stephens, Philip;
- Rudin, Charles;
- Geese, William;
- Albacker, Lee;
- Heymach, John;
- Jiang, Fei
KRAS is the most common oncogenic driver in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAC). We previously reported that STK11/LKB1 (KL) or TP53 (KP) comutations define distinct subgroups of KRAS-mutant LUAC. Here, we examine the efficacy of PD-1 inhibitors in these subgroups. Objective response rates to PD-1 blockade differed significantly among KL (7.4%), KP (35.7%), and K-only (28.6%) subgroups (P < 0.001) in the Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) cohort (174 patients) with KRAS-mutant LUAC and in patients treated with nivolumab in the CheckMate-057 phase III trial (0% vs. 57.1% vs. 18.2%; P = 0.047). In the SU2C cohort, KL LUAC exhibited shorter progression-free (P < 0.001) and overall (P = 0.0015) survival compared with KRASMUT;STK11/LKB1WT LUAC. Among 924 LUACs, STK11/LKB1 alterations were the only marker significantly associated with PD-L1 negativity in TMBIntermediate/High LUAC. The impact of STK11/LKB1 alterations on clinical outcomes with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors extended to PD-L1-positive non-small cell lung cancer. In Kras-mutant murine LUAC models, Stk11/Lkb1 loss promoted PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor resistance, suggesting a causal role. Our results identify STK11/LKB1 alterations as a major driver of primary resistance to PD-1 blockade in KRAS-mutant LUAC.Significance: This work identifies STK11/LKB1 alterations as the most prevalent genomic driver of primary resistance to PD-1 axis inhibitors in KRAS-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. Genomic profiling may enhance the predictive utility of PD-L1 expression and tumor mutation burden and facilitate establishment of personalized combination immunotherapy approaches for genomically defined LUAC subsets. Cancer Discov; 8(7); 822-35. ©2018 AACR.See related commentary by Etxeberria et al., p. 794This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 781.