Pretreatment Glasgow prognostic score as a biomarker of outcomes in nivolumab-treated patients with advanced gastric cancer

Nivolumab might provide overall survival benefits for patients with advanced gastric cancer in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. However, it is effective in only a limited number of patients. Glasgow prognostic score is an indicator of systematic inflammatory response and nutritional status. This study aimed to investigate the ability of the Glasgow prognostic score and other markers to predict the prognosis in patients treated with nivolumab. We reviewed the medical records of all patients with previously treated advanced gastric cancer who received nivolumab between February 2015 and June 2019 at Hyogo Cancer Center. The patients were categorized into two groups according to their Glasgow prognostic score. In total, 53.3% and 46.7% of patients were assigned to groups with a Glasgow prognostic score of 0, or that of 1 or 2, respectively. The median progression-free survival and median overall survival were 2.3 and 5.7 months among all participants. The median progression-free survival (3.6 vs. 1.4 months; p = 0.015) and median overall survival (16.4 vs. 4.2 months; p = 0.0006) were significantly longer in patients with a Glasgow prognostic score of 0 than in those with a Glasgow prognostic score of 1 or 2. Pretreatment Glasgow prognostic score of 0 was associated with better outcomes. This study suggests that Glasgow prognostic score may be a prognostic biomarker in patients with advanced gastric cancer treated with nivolumab.