Impact of Cancer Cachexia on Treatment With PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitors Plus Chemotherapy in Advanced Non-small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract PurposeProgrammed cell death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors plus chemotherapy has become the standard first-line treatment in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, few studies have explicitly focused on the impact of cancer cachexia on the efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus chemotherapy. Thus, we evaluated the clinical implications of cancer cachexia on the survival outcomes in patients who received this treatment.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective review of medical records of patients with advanced NSCLC treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus chemotherapy from December 2018 to December 2020. Cancer cachexia was diagnosed as an unintentional weight loss of 5% or more over six months. We evaluated the progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for patients with or without cancer cachexia who received PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus chemotherapy.ResultsAmong the 80 included patients, 37 (46%) had cancer cachexia. Cachectic patients had a lower objective response rate (30 vs 51%, P <0.05), poorer PFS (2.3 vs 12.0 months, P <0.05), and poorer OS (10.8 vs 23.9 months, P <0.05) than non-cachectic patients. The Cox proportional-hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) of cancer cachexia were 1.77 (1.01–3.10) for PFS and 2.90 (1.40–6.00) for OS, with adjustments for Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, PD-L1 tumour proportion score, histology, and central nervous system metastases. ConclusionPre-treatment cancer cachexia may reduce treatment efficacy and shorten survival time in patients receiving PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus chemotherapy. Early evaluation and intervention for cancer cachexia might improve oncological outcomes in patients with advanced NSCLC.