The following summary is “Associations between Pretreatment Body Composition Features and Clinical Outcomes among Patients with Metastatic Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated with Immune Checkpoint Blockade” published in the December 2022 issue of Oncology by Ged et al.
Metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients with a high body mass index (BMI) may have better responses to immune-checkpoint blocking (ICB) metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (mccRCC). But body mass index (BMI) is just a rough estimate. In this study, researchers looked into the connection between body mass index (BMI) and radiographically measured body composition (BC) parameters and the results of mccRCC ICB. Analysis of past cases of metastatic colorectal cancer treated with ICB. Pretreatment CT scans were used to calculate body mass index (BMI) and BC variables [skeletal muscle index (SMI) and various adiposity measures].
Investigators looked at how different measures of body mass index and body composition relate to outcomes in ICB. In this study, they evaluated the effectiveness of treatment using RECIST v1.1. Using a second set of 62 original tumor samples. There were 205 individuals in the group with mccRCC; 74% were male; 71% were overweight or obese; and 53% had a poor body mass index. Patients with a high body mass index (BMI) lived longer than those with a normal BMI [unadjusted HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.45-0.97; P=0.035]. Only SMI (unadjusted HR comparing low vs. high SMI 1.65 (95% CI: 1.13-2.43); P=0.009) was linked with OS among BC variables. When considering the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium score and the treatment route.
However, this correlation between OS and treatment stopped being statistically significant. Adiposity was not linked to overall survival, and neither was it associated with progression-free survival nor with radiological or other responses among BC variables. Patients with a low SMI had tumors with more angiogenic, inflammatory, and myeloid signals. As their results show, skeletal muscle is important in explaining the body mass index paradox. Research is needed to determine if improving skeletal muscle mass in metastatic patients treated with ICB results in longer life.