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. 2021 Jul-Aug;35(4):2321-2326.
doi: 10.21873/invivo.12506.

Impact of Immune-related Adverse Events on Nivolumab Efficacy in Patients With Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer

Eisuke Booka  1 , Hirotoshi Kikuchi  2 , Ryoma Haneda  1 , Wataru Soneda  1 , Sanshiro Kawata  1 , Tomohiro Murakami  1 , Tomohiro Matsumoto  1 , Yoshihiro Hiramatsu  1   3 , Hiroya Takeuchi  1
Affiliations

Impact of Immune-related Adverse Events on Nivolumab Efficacy in Patients With Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer

Eisuke Booka et al. In Vivo. 2021 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Background: The development of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) has been found to be associated with survival benefits in some cancers. However, data on the relation between irAEs and gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA) or esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) are scarce.

Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 29 GEA and 21 ESCC patients treated with nivolumab. We investigated the impact of the development of irAEs in GEA and ESCC patients on best overall response and survival.

Results: Patients with irAEs had significantly better best overall response, overall survival and progression-free survival than those without irAEs (p=0.007, p<0.001 and p=0.005, respectively). Multivariate analyses identified an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status ≥2 and the absence of an irAE as independent poor prognostic factors (p<0.001 and 0.016, respectively).

Conclusion: The development of irAEs has the potential to predict survival outcomes in patients with GEA and ESCC treated with nivolumab.

Keywords: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma; irAE; nivolumab..

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Conflict of interest statement

The Authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Kaplan-Meier overall survival curves for (A) all patients, (B) patients with gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma and (C) patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with and without immune-related adverse effects (irAEs).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Kaplan-Meier survival curves of progression-free survival for (A) all patients, (B) patients with gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma and (C) patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with and without immune-related adverse effects (irAEs).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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