Organ-Specific and Mixed Responses to Pembrolizumab in Patients with Unresectable or Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma: A Multicenter Retrospective Study

Abstract

To investigate the organ-specific response and clinical outcomes of mixed responses (MRs) to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for unresectable or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (ur/mUC), we retrospectively analyzed 136 patients who received pembrolizumab. The total objective response rate (ORR) and organ-specific ORR were determined for each lesion according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 as follows: (i) complete response (CR), (ii) partial response (PR), (iii) stable disease (SD), and (iv) progressive disease (PD). Most of the organ-specific ORR was 30–40%, but bone metastasis was only 5%. There was a significant difference in overall survival (OS) between responders and non-responders with locally advanced lesions and lymph node, lung, or liver metastases (HR 9.02 (3.63–22.4) p < 0.0001; HR 3.63 (1.97–6.69), p < 0.0001; HR 2.75 (1.35–5.59), p = 0.0053; and HR 3.17 (1.00–10.0), p = 0.049, respectively). MR was defined as occurring when PD happened in one lesion plus either CR or PR occurred in another lesion simultaneously, and 12 cases were applicable. MR was significantly associated with a poorer prognosis than that of the responder group (CR or PR; HR 0.09 (0.02–0.35), p = 0.004). Patients with bone metastases benefitted less. Care may be needed to treat patients with MR as well as patients with pure PD. Further studies should be conducted in the future.