Significance of Glasgow Prognostic Scores in NSCLC Patients Treated With Immunotherapy After Platinum-based Cytotoxic Chemotherapy

Abstract

Background/aim: Little is known about the prognostic role of the Glasgow prognostic score (GPS) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with immunotherapy after platinum-based cytotoxic chemotherapy.

Patients and methods: This study used a lung cancer cohort of the Catholic Medical Center of Korea between January 2018 and September 2020.

Results: A total of 78 patients with NSCLC treated with immunotherapy as second or further-line therapy were included. Higher GPS values were significant predictors of shorter immune-related progression-free survival (irPFS) and overall survival (OS). The hazard ratios for irPFS were 0.249 for programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression ≥50% and 9.73 for a GPS of 2. Older age, lower PD-L1 expression and higher GPS values were independently associated with shorter OS.

Conclusion: Higher GPS values were identified as a poor prognostic factor for OS and irPFS in NSCLC patients who received immunotherapy as second or further-line therapy.

Keywords: C-reactive protein; Immunotherapy; albumin; non-small cell lung cancer.