Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the 60 patients with pulmonary large-cell carcinoma (LCC) or pulmonary large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) who received pembrolizumab with or without chemotherapy

No. of patients

60

42

18

Age, years

 Median

61.5

61.3

61.9

 Range

31–79

31–79

47–76

Sex

 Male

56(93.3)

39(92.9)

17(94.4)

 Female

4(6.7)

3(7.1)

1(5.6)

Smoking history

 Never smoker

13(21.7)

9(21.4)

14(77.8)

 Former smoker

47(78.3)

33(78.6)

4(22.2)

Biopsy method

 Surgery

18(30.0)

16(38.1)

2(11.1)

 Lung biopsy

30(50.0)

18(42.9)

12(66.7)

 Bronchoscopy biopsy

12(20.0)

8(19.0)

4(22.2)

ECOG performance status

 0–1

58(96.7)

41(97.6)

17(94.4)

 ≥ 2

2 (3.3)

1(2.4)

1(5.6)

Stage

 IIIb/IIIc

9(15.0)

6(12.3)

3(16.7)

 IV

51(85.0)

36(85.7)

15(83.3)

Brain metastasis

 Yes

12(20.0)

10(23.8)

2(11.1)

 No

48(80.0)

32(76.2)

16(88.9)

PD-L1 expression (N = 44)

 < 1%

19(43.2)

13(38.2)

6(60.0)

 1%-49%

13(29.5)

9(26.5)

4(40.0)

 ≥ 50%

12(27.3)

12(35.3)

0

Treatment line

 First-line

37(61.7)

27(64.3)

10(55.6)

 ≥ Second-line

23(38.3)

15(35.7)

8(44.4)

Treatment regimens

 Pembrolizumab monotherapy

6(10.0)

4(9.5)

2(11.1)

 Chemo + Pembrolizumab

54(90.0)

38(90.5)

16(88.9)