Figure 5.

Association between elevation of sCD27-pool and clinical outcome after treatment with PROSTVAC plus ipilimumab. (A) Association between baseline CD27-pool in serum and overall survival. Separating patients into two groups, sCD27 high and sCD27 low using median values of sCD27 for day 0, Kaplan-Meier survival curves are shown for the association between sCD27 at baseline for these two groups and overall survival. (B, C and D) Association between CD27-pool enlargement in patients and overall survival after the therapy. Patients were separated into two groups: sCD27 high and sCD27 low using median increased sCD27 values (differences from day 0 baseline) for 45, 70 or 100-120 days post-treatments. The association between sCD27-pool and overall survival is shown using Kaplan-Meier survival curves, which were plotted for patients from the date of the first administration of PROSTVAC plus ipilimumab to the date of death, or the date of the last follow-up for patients who were still alive. The graphs of days 45, 70 and 100-120 after the treatment are shown. Strata were compared using the log-rank test. The values of sCD27 used for this evaluation were from an average of four blinded ELISA assays. (E) A schematic depiction of the sCD27-pool in healthy donors and cancer patients, and its elevation after immunotherapy. The level of the sCD27-pool is >3 fold higher in healthy individuals than in cancer patients before immunotherapy. After the therapy, the pool was cumulatively refilled as more treatment cycles were given, and some patients reached above a putative threshold (a red dashed line), which is the level required for proper immune function. * p = 0.022 (a trend).