Predictive factors for hyperprogressive disease during nivolumab as anti-PD1 treatment in patients with advanced gastric cancer

BackgroundHyperprogressive disease (HPD) during treatment with anti-programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 monoclonal antibodies has anecdotally been reported in some types of cancers, but is not well-characterized in patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC).MethodsTotal 62 AGC patients treated with nivolumab in a single institution from September 2017 to April 2018 were enrolled in this study. Tumor responses were assessed according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1, and HPD was defined as twofold increase in tumor growth rate. Clinicopathological and molecular characteristics associated with HPD were also investigated.ResultsThirteen of 62 patients (21%) developed HPD after nivolumab treatment. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were significantly shorter in patients with HPD than in patients without HPD (median OS: 2.3 months vs. not reached, P<0.001; median PFS: 0.7 months vs. 2.4 months, P<0.001). Liver metastases (77% vs. 41%), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) of 1 or 2 (77% vs. 29%), and a large sum of target lesion diameters at baseline (median 104.2mm vs. 44.9mm) were significantly associated with HPD. Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) level significantly increased in the first 4weeks in only patients with HPD.ConclusionsHPD was observed in AGC patients treated with nivolumab and correlated with some clinicopathological characteristics. Elevations in ANC and CRP levels upon treatment might indicate HPD.