Microbiome in Lung Cancer and Other Malignancies

Patients will be asked to provide nasal, oral and skin swabs, as well as stool samples during their regular clinic visits, at the baseline before desired therapy is given, and at the time when treatment is changed due to either disease progression or unbearable toxicities leading to treatment stop/change. If treatment stop/held is due to toxicities, a 3rd set of samples will be collected when toxicities reduce to less than grade 1. The samples will be subjected to DNA extraction followed by 16S rRNA and/or shotgun sequencing metagenomic analysis. The data will be correlated to clinical response from treatments, toxicities, clinical data (use of antibiotics, PPIs, lab parameters, etc.) and tissue genetic/immunological characteristics (mutations, PDL1 expression, etc.) for review of response. This is not data to be used for treatment of these subjects.

Inclusion criteria

Patients diagnosed with lung cancer and other malignancies who are candidates for systemic therapies such as immunotherapy and chemotherapy

Eligibility criteria for studying microbiome in patients receiving immunotherapy:

• Patients with advanced/recurrent lung cancer (including both NSCLC and SCLC) and other solid tumors of our study interest (e.g. GU cancer and melanoma, etc.) that initiate a new line of immunotherapy (can be 1st or later line), either alone or in combination with chemotherapy, targeted therapy or other immunotherapy.
• Patients can be in other clinical trials as long as they meet criteria 1.
• Prior treatment with immunotherapy is acceptable as long as criteria 1 is met. For example, a new line therapy with pembrolizumab plus pemetrexed after failing pembrolizumab is considered eligible.
• Patients who are to start immunotherapy maintenance after chemoradiation therapy are eligible (e.g. NSCLC patients who will be on durvalumab maintenance)
• Patients who are to start immunotherapy after local therapies (e.g. radiation, ablation, etc.) are eligible.
• Immunotherapy must have component of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 agents (e.g. nivolumab, pembrolizumab, atezolizumab, durvalumab and avelumab, etc.) or anti-CTLA4 (e.g. ipilimumab)

Exclusion criteria

• Patients < 18 years of age
• Patients that are pregnant
• Patients taking more than 2 alcoholic drinks per day and those using non-medical drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroine, etc.