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Clinical impact of skeletal muscle area in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with anti-PD-1 inhibitors

  • Original Article – Clinical Oncology
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Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to elucidate the clinical impact of skeletal muscle area (SMA) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors.

Methods

Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed on data of 103 patients with advanced or recurrent NSCLC treated with anti-PD-1 inhibitors. The SMA was measured at the level of the third lumbar vertebral (L3) on computed tomography images using OsiriX software (32-bit, version 5.8; OsiriX, Geneva, Switzerland). The L3 muscle index (cm2/m2) was defined as the SMA (cm2) at the L3 level divided by the height (m) squared.

Results

L3 muscle index Low was an independent predictor of both progression-free (P = 0.0399) and overall survival (P = 0.0155). Moreover, the disease control rate was significantly lower in the L3 muscle index Low group (49.0% [25/51]) than in the L3 muscle index High group (73.1% [38/52]; P = 0.0117). However, there was no significant difference between the response rates of the L3 muscle index Low group (21.6% [11/51]) and L3 muscle index High group (32.7% [17/52]; P = 0.2031).

Conclusions

L3 muscle index Low is an independent predictor of worse outcomes in NSCLC patients treated with anti-PD-1 inhibitors.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Trish Reynolds, MBBS, FRACP, from Edanz Group (www.edanzediting.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This work was not supported by any funding sources.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kazuki Takada.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study formal consent is not required.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Electronic supplementary material

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432_2020_3146_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary file1 (TIF 10272 kb) Association between L3 muscle index and BMI in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with anti-PD-1 inhibitors. BMI, body mass index; L3, third lumbar vertebra; PD-1, programmed cell death-1

432_2020_3146_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary file2 (TIF 10272 kb) Kaplan–Meier curves showing survival of patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with anti-PD-1 inhibitors according to BMI status. (a) Progression-free survival and (b) overall survival. BMI, body mass index; PD-1, programmed cell death-1

432_2020_3146_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Supplementary file3 (TIF 10272 kb) Association between BMI status and treatment response in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with anti-PD-1 inhibitors. (a) Response rate and (b) disease control rate. Responses were determined according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. BMI, body mass index; CR, complete response; PD, progressive disease; PD-1, programmed cell death-1; PR, partial response; SD, stable disease

Supplementary file4 (TIF 10272 kb)

432_2020_3146_MOESM5_ESM.tif

Supplementary file5 (TIF 10272 kb) Association between PD-L1 tumor expression status and treatment response in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with anti-PD-1 inhibitors. (a) Response rate and (b) disease control rate. Responses were determined according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. CR, complete response; PD, progressive disease; PD-1, programmed cell death-1; PD-L1, programmed cell death-ligand 1; PR, partial response; SD, stable disease; TPS, tumor proportion score

Supplementary file6 (TIF 10272 kb)

Supplementary file7 (DOCX 28 kb)

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Takada, K., Yoneshima, Y., Tanaka, K. et al. Clinical impact of skeletal muscle area in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with anti-PD-1 inhibitors. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 146, 1217–1225 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03146-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03146-5

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