{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]],"date-time":"2026-05-27T17:09:53Z","timestamp":1779901793320,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)","issue":"4","content-domain":{"domain":["ascopubs.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["JCO Glob Oncol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>PURPOSE<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study investigated whether the benefit of patients with recurrent and\/or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (R\/M NPC) from immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)\u2013containing regimens was correlated with the presence of tumor microenvironment (TME) cell subpopulations that correlate with clinical outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>PATIENTS AND METHODS<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A total of 73 patients with R\/M NPC from four prospective trials in three centers using nivolumab monotherapy, nivolumab + gemcitabine, nivolumab + ipilimumab, or avelumab + axitinib were included. Lunit SCOPE IO, an artificial intelligence\u2013powered spatial TME analyzer, analyzed tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), macrophages (MPs), fibroblasts (FBs), and endothelial cells in the intratumoral area and adjacent stroma.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>RESULTS<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 7.3 months, and the median overall survival (OS) was 30.0 months for the entire cohort. Higher intratumoral immune infiltrates showed association with improved treatment response, with both intratumoral TILs (hazard ratio [HR], 0.44 [95% CI, 0.24 to 0.83];\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = .0081) and intratumoral MPs (HR, 0.5 [95% CI, 0.27 to 0.91];\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = .0209) showing associations with improved PFS in the combined cohort. In contrast, stromal immune populations did not show clear correlations (stromal TILs: HR 1.14,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = .6681; stromal MPs: HR 0.9,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = .7278). Higher stromal FB density was also associated with poor outcomes, showing a trend toward shorter PFS and a significant reduction in OS (HR, 2.44 [95% CI, 1.16 to 5.11];\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P<\/jats:italic>\n                      &lt; .05).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>CONCLUSION<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The results from this multinational cohort suggest that high intratumoral infiltrations of TILs and MPs, along with low stromal FB densities, may be associated with better response to ICI-containing treatment in NPC. Further studies in larger, expanded cohorts are warranted, and prospective validation is needed.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1200\/go-25-00474","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T19:59:10Z","timestamp":1775851150000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1200\/crossmark","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Distribution of Immune Cells in Tumor Microenvironment Correlates With Checkpoint Inhibitor Response in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Multiregional Study"],"prefix":"10.1200","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8196-4247","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Bhumsuk","family":"Keam","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4655-0206","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Darren Wan-Teck","family":"Lim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore"},{"name":"Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Singapore, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hsiang-Fong","family":"Kao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University Cancer Center, Taipei, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joe","family":"Yeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Singapore, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chiyoon","family":"Oum","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lunit, Seoul, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-6791-8296","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Seungeun","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lunit, Seoul, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4181-2916","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Yoojoo","family":"Lim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lunit, Seoul, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7477-4023","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Siraj M.","family":"Ali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lunit, Seoul, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4107-102X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Boon Cher","family":"Goh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Haematology-Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3089-7379","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sze Huey","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Clinical Trials and Epidemiological Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore"},{"name":"Oncology Academic Programme, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Edwin P.","family":"Hui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Translational Oncology, Sir YK Pao Centre for Cancer, Hong Kong, China"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Oncology, Phase 1 Clinical Trial Centre, Hong Kong Cancer Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1583-4142","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hyun Ae","family":"Jung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6902-7063","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Keon-Uk","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital, Daegu, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7995-7862","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sang-Hee","family":"Cho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Gwangju, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8491-703X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Keun-Wook","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6912-8091","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Anthony T. 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