MP26-01 PRETREATMENT NEUTROPHIL-TO-LYMPHOCYTE RATIO IS A NOVEL BIOMARKER FOR PREDICTING WORSE CLINICAL OUTCOME IN CHEMO-RESISTANT UROTHELIAL CARCINOMA PATIENTS TREATED WITH PEMBROLIZUMAB

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES:No reliable biomarker is available for predicting worse clinical outcome in chemo-resistant urothelial carcinoma (UC) patients treated with pembrolizumab. We focused on the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), which is reported to be a simple index of systemic inflammation and a possible biomarker for predicting prognosis in various malignancies, including UC. Our aim was to evaluate whether a high pretreatment NLR level (pre-NLR) could predict subsequent clinical outcomes in chemo-resistant UC patients treated with pembrolizumab.METHODS:We identified 50 cases treated with pembrolizumab for chemo-resistant UC between December 2017 and August 2018 at our 5 institutions. We investigated the association between pre-NLR levels and their prognosis. We defined patients with NLR of >3.90 as the high pre-NLR group according to a calculation by receiver-operating curve analysis.RESULTS:The high pre-NLR group consisted of 13 cases (26.0%). In the 45 cases who had measurable lesions, at the...