Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM: We hypothesised that the prognostic nutrition index (PNI) is useful for evaluating host immunity and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. We investigated the effect of PNI on nivolumab monotherapy efficacy in advanced or recurrent gastric cancer (GC) or gastro-oesophageal junction cancer (GOC) patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively examined 110 patients, divided them into a high-PNI group and a low-PNI group, and compared treatment efficacy, adverse events (AEs), and survival between the groups. RESULTS: Median overall survival (OS) was significantly longer in the high-PNI group than in the low-PNI group (205 vs. 109 days; p<0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that low PNI was an independent risk factor for OS (hazard ratio=2.398; 95% confidence interval=1.384-4.154; p=0.002). The overall response rate and frequency of AEs were not significantly different between the groups. CONCLUSION: PNI could be a useful prognostic factor in GC or GOC patients undergoing nivolumab monotherapy.