PD-L1 expression in patients with metastatic gastric cancer in South Korea.
1571 Background: Data are limited and conflicting regarding programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression as prognostic of clinical outcomes in patients (pts) with metastatic gastric cancer (mGC) treated with standard of care (SOC). Factors affecting the association between PD-L1 expression and outcomes include type of assay and antibody, scoring system for PD-L1 expression, and method of tissue collection. We analyzed the association between tumor PD-L1 expression and clinical parameters in Korean pts with inoperable mGC. Methods: A retrospective study was performed in 201 pts with inoperable mGC from Yonsei Cancer Center in Seoul, South Korea. Biopsy samples were collected at diagnosis. Tumor PD-L1 expression was measured by IHC using the 22C3 PD-L1 antibody pharmDx kit (Dako North America, Carpinteria, CA, USA). PD-L1 positivity was defined as a combined positive score (CPS) of ≥1%, where CPS is PD-L1+ cells (tumor cells, macrophages, lymphocytes) over the total number of tumor cells, expressed as a percentage. Survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier methods, log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for age, sex, and ECOG performance status. Results: A total of 189/201 (94%) pts received chemotherapy as SOC and were included in this analysis. Median age was 56 years (range, 21-82), 37% of pts were women, and 28% had a BMI ≥24. All pts had stage IV metastatic disease and 27%, 49%, and 24% had well to moderately differentiated, poorly differentiated, and signet ring cell tumors, respectively. Prevalence of PD-L1 positivity was 72.5%. PD-L1 positivity was not associated with age, BMI, or histologic grade. Median overall survival (OS) for the PD-L1+ and PD-L1– groups was 10.9 and 10.2 months, respectively ( P= 0.92). The hazard ratio for the PD-L1+ vs the PD-L1–group was 1.02 (95% CI, 0.74-1.39) before adjusting for age, sex, and ECOG performance status and 1.08 (95% CI, 0.77-1.51) after adjusting. Conclusions: Based on this preliminary assay and cutoff, results suggest that PD-L1 expression is not a prognostic factor for mGC. Additional biomarker analyses (eg, immune gene expression profile and microsatellite instability) are planned.