While in the intent-to-treat (ITT) population no relevant effect of lefitolimod on progression-free and overall survival (OS) could be observed, two predefined patient subgroups indicated promising results, favoring lefitolimod with respect to OS: in patients with a low frequency of activated CD86+ B cells (hazard ratio, HR 0.53, 95% CI: 0.26-1.08; n = 38 of 88 analyzed) and in patients with reported chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (HR 0.48, 95% CI: 0.20-1.17, n = 25 of 103).
The results indicate that the polymorphisms of CTLA-4 (-318C/T) and CD86 (+1057G/A) may be important genetic factor associated with risk or protection for COPD in Chinese population.