medwireNews: A chart review of patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (UC) has identified a significant association between BMI and immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) response and survival.
The findings were presented in a poster at the ESMO Congress 2022 in Paris, France, by Soumaya Labidi (Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and colleagues.
“Elevated BMI represents a novel potential biomarker” in this setting, they said, and added: “External validation of these data in a larger study and investigations into the mechanisms behind these findings are warranted.”
The study included data on 121 individuals who received PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors for metastatic UC at one of three Canadian cancer centers between 2016 and 2021. The majority of the participants were men (74%) and had received ICIs in the second- or later-line (61%).
Forty-five percent of the participants had a BMI below 25 kg/m2, 36% a BMI of 25 to less than 30 kg/m2, and 19% had a BMI of at least 30 kg/m2. The median BMI in each of the groups was 20.9, 26.6, and 34.6 kg/m2, respectively.
Labidi et al found that median overall survival following ICI treatment improved significantly with increasing BMI, at 8.5 months for patients with a BMI below 25 kg/m2, 14.4 months for those with a BMI of 25 to less than 30 kg/m2, and 24.8 months for those with a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or more.
Similarly, the overall response rate was significantly higher for participants with a BMI of at least 25 kg/m2 than for those with a lower BMI, at 45.4% versus 16.3%.
And multivariable analysis adjusting for confounders revealed a significant association between BMI of 30 kg/m2 or more and overall survival, such that the risk for death was a significant 60% reduced relative to a lower BMI.
“BMI is strongly and independently associated with ICI response and survival,” summarized the authors.
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This independent news story was supported by an educational grant from Pfizer and Merck Healthcare KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany