Key clinical point: Pretreatment CD163+ macrophage infiltration is a prognostic biomarker in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.
Major finding: The median overall survival (OS) was significantly longer in patients who underwent vs. did not undergo conversion surgery after induction chemotherapy (33.3 vs. 9.0 months; P < .0001). Overall, the median OS in the CD163-low vs. -high group was not reached vs. 16.8 months, respectively ( P < .001). In patients who underwent conversion surgery, the median OS in the CD163-low vs. -high group was not reached vs. 24.8 months, respectively ( P = .020).
Study details: This retrospective study evaluated the numbers of tumor-infiltrating CD4+, CD8+, and Foxp3+ lymphocytes and CD68+ and CD163+ macrophages in pretreatment endoscopic biopsy samples of 68 patients with metastatic gastric cancer who received induction chemotherapy (docetaxel plus cisplatin plus S-1) with or without conversion surgery between April 2006 and March 2019.
Disclosures: This study did not receive any funding. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Kinoshita J et al. Prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating CD163+macrophage in patients with metastatic gastric cancer undergoing multidisciplinary treatment. BMC Cancer. 2022;22:608 (Jun 3). Doi: 10.1186/s12885-022-09713-y