Role of gut microbiome in the outcome of lymphoma patients treated with checkpoint inhibitors—The MicroLinf Study

Abstract

Biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) response and resistance include PD-L1 expression and other environmental factors, among which the gut microbiome (GM) is gaining increasing interest especially in lymphomas. To explore the potential role of GM in this clinical issue, feces of 30 relapsed/refractory lymphoma (Hodgkin and primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma) patients undergoing ICIs were collected from start to end of treatment (EoT). GM was profiled through Illumina, that is, 16S rRNA sequencing, and subsequently processed through a bioinformatics pipeline. The overall response rate to ICIs was 30.5%, with no association between patients clinical characteristics and response/survival outcomes. Regarding GM, responder patients showed a peculiar significant enrichment of Lachnospira, while non-responder ones showed higher presence of Enterobacteriaceae (at baseline and maintained till EoT). Recognizing patient-related factors that may influence response to ICIs is becoming critical to optimize the treatment pathway of heavily pretreated, young patients with a potentially long-life expectancy. These preliminary results indicate potential early GM signatures of ICIs response in lymphoma, which could pave the way for future research to improve patients prognosis with new adjuvant strategies.