A durable response to programmed cell death 1 blockade in a multidrug-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer patient with HLA-B44 supertype: A case report

Front Immunol. 2022 Oct 6:13:951422. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.951422. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Relapsed/refractory ovarian cancer, especially platinum resistance recurrence, remains a major therapeutic challenge. Here, we present the case of a patient with recurrent ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) who failed to respond to multiline chemotherapy and target therapy but achieved an immune complete response (iCR) with programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor treatment. The overall survival (OS) was 59 months, and the recurrence-free survival (RFS) was 34 months after immunotherapy, which was counting. Meantime, molecular testing results revealed that traditional biomarkers for immunotherapy, including PD-L1 expression, microsatellite instability (MSI), and tumor mutational burden (TMB), were negative. HLA-B44 (B*18:01) supertype was confirmed by sequence-based HLA typing. This case raises the possibility that ovarian cancer patients with multidrug resistance may still benefit from PD-1 inhibitor therapy, even if PD-L1 pathology is negative.

Keywords: HLA-B44 supertype; PD-L1; chemotherapy resistant; immunotherapy; ovarian clear cell carcinoma; platinum resistance recurrence.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological* / therapeutic use
  • Apoptosis
  • B7-H1 Antigen / metabolism
  • Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial
  • Female
  • HLA-B44 Antigen
  • Humans
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / drug therapy
  • Ovarian Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Ovarian Neoplasms* / genetics
  • Platinum
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor / metabolism

Substances

  • B7-H1 Antigen
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor
  • HLA-B44 Antigen
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
  • Platinum