# A multicenter retrospective study of PD-1 blockade plus chemotherapy as first-line therapy in advanced hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach

## TL;DR

A study finds that combining PD-1 blockade with chemotherapy improves survival in patients with advanced hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach.

## Contribution

This is the first multicenter retrospective study to evaluate PD-1 blockade plus chemotherapy as first-line treatment for hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach.

## Key findings

- The treatment achieved a 76% objective response rate and 88% disease control rate in patients with advanced hepatoid adenocarcinoma.
- Median overall survival was 20.3 months, indicating significant survival benefits from the combination therapy.
- The treatment was well tolerated, with white blood cell count decrease being the most common adverse event.

## Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade in combination with chemotherapy for patients with advanced hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS).

This study retrospectively collected data from 25 patients with advanced HAS who received first-line PD-1 blockade combined with chemotherapy across 6 centers between January 2018 and January 2024. Progression-free survival and overall survival were assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves.

This study included 25 patients with HAS, all of whom received a first-line treatment regimen combining PD-1 blockade and chemotherapy. The objective response rate and disease control rate were 76.0% and 88.0%, respectively. The median follow-up time was 13.1 months, with a median progression-free survival of 10.2 months (95% CI, 6.3-14.1) and a median overall survival of 20.3 months (95% CI, 11.3-29.4). A total of 20 patients (80.0%) experienced adverse reactions of varying degrees, with white blood cell count decreased (12, 48.0%) being the most common adverse event. Two patients experienced fatal adverse events (grade 5), both of which were unrelated to the PD-1 blockade.

Patients with HAS can derive survival benefits from first-line treatment with PD-1 blockade combined with chemotherapy, and the treatment is well tolerated. Furthermore, this pathological subtype may serve as a predictive indicator of favorable efficacy for PD-1 blockade, regardless of the patients’ programmed death-ligand 1 combined positive score.