"Among patients with nonsquamous metastatic NSCLC harboring STK11, KEAP1, or KRAS mutations that tend to respond poorly to standard immune checkpoint inhibition, adding the CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab to durvalumab plus chemotherapy (D+T+CT) yielded numerically higher, durable response rates at 6 months, compared to pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy (P+CT), according to interim findings from the TRITON trial. The findings support a role for the regimen “in this molecularly defined population of patients that has a high unmet clinical need,” reported study coauthor Ferdinandos Skoulidis, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The findings do suggest that dual checkpoint inhibition might overcome immunotherapy-resistant lung tumor genotypes, experts told Cancer Therapy Advisor — but confirmation with mature survival data are still needed, they cautioned. “The study addresses an important clinical question: whether adding CTLA-4 blockade can improve outcomes for patients with molecular subsets that often have suboptimal outcomes with standard chemoimmunotherapy,” Dr Schoenfeld said. “The duration-of-response signal was notable. Looking ahead, the most important question is whether this early duration-of-response signal translates into improved progression-free survival and overall survival.”"