Key clinical point: A low baseline albumin level is significantly associated with hyperprogressive disease (HPD) development and worse survival outcomes after programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) blockade in patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC).
Major finding: The optimal albumin cut-off value for predicting HPD was <3.25 mg/dL, with an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.7708 ( P = .0022). Patients with albumin levels of <3.25 mg/dL had worse progression-free (hazard ratio [HR] 1.928; 95% CI 1.289-2.885) and overall (HR 1.833; 95% CI 1.211-2.774) survival.
Study details: This retrospective study included 169 patients with AGC who received PD-1 blockade therapy (nivolumab or pembrolizumab; n = 112) or irinotecan monotherapy (n = 57).
Disclosures: This study was funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea by the Korean government, among others. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Kim CG et al. Hyperprogressive disease during PD-1 blockade in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Eur J Cancer. 2022;172:387-399 (Jul 13). Doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2022.05.042