Study Tests Immune-Boosting Approach for Advanced Lung Cancer

For many patients with advanced lung cancer, immunotherapy has changed what treatment can look like.  

These drugs help the immune system recognize and attack cancer and they have improved survival for many patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of lung cancer. 

However, immunotherapy does not work forever in most patients. When the disease grows again after treatment with immunotherapy and chemotherapy, options are more limited. 

A study being presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting is looking at whether a new drug combination could help fill that gap.  

The phase 3 clinical trial, called ResQ201A, is testing a drug known as nogapendekin alfa inbakicept, or NAI, in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer whose disease has progressed after prior immunotherapy. 

Helping Patients With Limited Options 

NAI, also known as N-803 and sold under the brand name ANKTIVA, is being studied in combination with the immunotherapy drug tislelizumab and the chemotherapy drug docetaxel. Researchers are comparing that combination with docetaxel alone, which is a common standard treatment for patients in this setting.

Andreas Saltos, MD

Andreas Saltos, MD, a thoracic oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center and lead author of the study, says the study is focused on a group of patients who need better options. 

“Currently, docetaxel chemotherapy is the recommended standard treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who experience cancer progression after immunotherapy and platinum chemotherapy,” Saltos said. “This clinical trial is testing whether a novel immunotherapy drug given together with currently approved immunotherapy as well as docetaxel may improve the outcomes for such patients, compared to docetaxel alone.” 

Docetaxel can help patients, but its benefits are often temporary. It also can cause side effects that make it difficult for some people to stay on treatment. 

The drug at the center of the trial, NAI, works differently from traditional chemotherapy. It is designed to stimulate interleukin-15, or IL-15, a natural immune-signaling protein in the body. IL-15 helps activate immune cells, including T cells and natural killer cells, that can attack cancer. 

Saltos describes T cells and natural killer cells as the immune system’s “soldiers” because they can travel into tumors and directly destroy cancer cells. 

The idea behind the trial is that NAI may help strengthen the immune response in patients whose cancer has stopped responding to earlier immunotherapy. Researchers are studying whether adding this immune-stimulating drug to chemotherapy and another immunotherapy can help patients live longer than chemotherapy alone. 

Reactivating the Immune System  

The trial is enrolling 462 adults at sites around the world. Moffitt has been one of the leading sites enrolling patients. Participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups. About two-thirds receive the experimental combination of NAI, tislelizumab and docetaxel, followed by maintenance treatment with NAI and tislelizumab. The remaining one-third receive docetaxel alone. 

The study is open label, meaning patients and their doctors know which treatment they are receiving. 

Researchers will track patients with scans and other assessments to see whether tumors shrink or stop growing. The main goal is to determine whether patients receiving the new combination live longer than those receiving docetaxel alone. 

Researchers will also study how long the cancer remains controlled, how many patients respond to treatment and how safe the regimen is. 

The study is still in progress, so it is too early to know whether the new approach works. 

“When these first-generation immunotherapies don’t work, we have limited options for alternative immunotherapy that can salvage a patient’s situation,” Saltos said. 

If the study is positive, it could help support a new treatment option for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer after prior immunotherapy. It also could lead to future studies of NAI in other stages of lung cancer, including earlier treatment settings. 

For now, the trial is an effort to answer a question that matters to many patients: whether the immune system can be reactivated against lung cancer after standard immunotherapy is no longer enough.