Residual tumors after near-infrared photoimmunotherapy can occur despite adequate laser irradiation and epidermal growth factor receptor expression. Our observations imply that insufficient immune activation within the tumor microenvironment may contribute to treatment resistance. Further characterization of the post-photoimmunotherapy tumor microenvironment will be essential to better understand treatment mechanisms and to optimize therapeutic efficacy.
He received two cycles of intravenous methylprednisolone (1 g/day, 3 days/cycle) followed by oral prednisolone at 1 mg/kg/day, which was gradually tapered. Because cetuximab is a component of CS, CS-PIT has the potential to induce DIILD. Risk assessments and monitoring for DIILD are recommended for patients receiving CS-PIT.
In NIR-PIT, administration of cetuximab sarotalocan sodium is followed by laser irradiation of the affected area, which theoretically should induce tumor cell death. EGFR expression was positive in all cases and expression score showed no significant change between before and after treatment. These findings suggest that puncture interval plays a critical role in therapeutic outcomes, whereas EGFR expression may not directly influence treatment efficacy.
We observed and measured the drug accumulation and responses during treatment in humans using real-time fluorescence imaging. This information is expected to be applied to evaluate efficacy of NIR-PIT.