Serum levels of sBTLA predict overall survival in patients undergoing ICI-therapy for solid malignancies

Therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can lead to durable tumor control in patients with various advanced stage malignancies. However, not all patients respond, leading to an ongoing search for biomarkers predicting response to ICIs. The B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) is an immune checkpoint expressed on immune cells. A multicenter study in Germany evaluated soluble (s)BTLA as biomarker for predicting response to ICI therapy. Patients with sBTLA level above the calculated prognostic cut-off value (311 pg/ml) had a median OS of only 138 days, compared to 526 days for patients with lower sBTAL levels (p=0.001). Uni- and multivariate Cox regression analyses confirmed the prognostic role of sBTLA in the context of ICI therapy.