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Introduction: Combination immunotherapy is widely used in clinical practice as the first-line treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, predictive factors associated with long-term response to combination immunotherapy have not been well investigated. Herein, we compared the clinical findings, including systemic inflammatory nutritional biomarkers, between responders and nonresponders to combination immunotherapy. In addition, we investigated the predictive factors associated with long-term response to combination immunotherapy. Methods: This study included a total of 112 previously untreated advanced NSCLC patients who received combination immunotherapy at eight institutions in Nagano prefecture between December 2018 and April 2021. The responders were defined as those who achieved progression-free survival for 9 months or longer with combined immunotherapy. We evaluated predictive factors associated with long-term response, and the favorable prognostic predictors associated with overall survival (OS) using statistical analyses. Results: The responder and nonresponder groups included 54 and 58 patients, respectively. Compared with the nonresponder group, the responder group had significantly younger age (p = 0.046), higher prognostic nutritional index (44.8 vs. 40.7, p = 0.010), lower C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) (0.17 vs. 0.67, p = 0.001), and a higher rate of complete plus partial response (83.3% vs. 34.5%, p < 0.001). The area under the curve and optimal cut-off value for CAR were 0.691 and 0.215, respectively. The CAR and best objective response were identified as independent favorable prognostic predictors associated with OS in the multivariate analyses. Conclusion: The CAR and best objective response were suggested to be useful predictors of long-term response in NSCLC patients who received combination immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody is associated with a greater risk of heart failure (HF) in female breast cancer patients. In recent years, the indication of anti-HER2 monoclonal antibodies was further expanded to stomach, colorectal, and salivary gland cancers regardless of sex in Japan. However, there have been no data on sex difference in the risk of HF after the anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody treatment. Objectives: We compared the risk of HF between male and female cancer patients treated with anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody using a nationwide population-based database. Method: We analyzed 4,608 cancer patients (230 men, median age; 52 years, breast cancer; 4,333) treated with HER2 monoclonal antibody enrolled in the JMDC Claims Database. The primary outcome was the incidence of HF. Results: Over a mean follow-up of 917 ± 835 days, 559 HF events were documented. Kaplan-Meier curves showed no significant difference in the incidence of HF between men and women. Multivariable Cox regression analysis showed that male sex was not associated with a risk of HF compared with women (HR, 0.76; 95% CI: 0.39–1.49). Conclusions: Our analysis of a nationwide population-based database firstly revealed that no significant sex difference existed in the risk of HF among cancer patients treated with anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody. Our findings suggest that the use of anti-HER2 monoclonal antibodies in male patients may be associated with similar risks observed in female patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: We investigated whether the expression of prospero homeobox protein-1 (PROX1) in gastric cancer (GC) could be a prognostic marker. We also focused on the relationship between PROX1 and LGR5 and Wnt/β-catenin activity in GC. Methods: A total of 196 patients who underwent potentially curative surgery were collected and reviewed retrospectively. Immunohistochemistry was conducted and evaluated the expression PROX1, LGR5, Wnt3a, and β-catenin expression. And we evaluated the relationship between PROX1 expression and clinicopathological features. Results: The PROX1 low-expression group consisted of 105 patients (53.6%) and the high-expression group consisted of 91 patients (46.4%). For LGR5 expression, 76 patients (38.8%) were classified as low-expression, and 120 patients (61.2%) were classified as high-expression. The PROX1 low-expression group was significantly younger (p = 0.0095), had more intestinal type (p = 0.014), and had smaller tumor size (p = 0.013). The PROX1 high-expression group was significantly correlated with high LGR5 expression (p < 0.0001) and high Wnt3a expression (p = 0.012). In addition, there were significantly more cases of postoperative recurrence in the PROX1 high-expression group (p = 0.013). Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that PROX1 correlated with the cancer stemness markers LGR5 and Wnt3a signaling in GC and had a poor prognosis including postoperative recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]