Comprehensive investigation of clinicopathological and immunological features to determine prognostic impact in metastatic renal cell carcinoma: The JEWEL study.

OBJECTIVES: Current prognostic models for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) are likely inaccurate due to recent treatment advances and improved survival outcomes. The JEWEL study used a data set from patients who received tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) to explore the prognostic impact of the tumor immune environment in the absence of immune checkpoint inhibitor intervention.

METHODS: The primary analysis population comprised 569 of the 770 Japanese patients enrolled in the ARCHERY study who received first-line TKIs. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to identify factors associated with the primary (overall survival [OS]) and secondary outcomes (treatment duration) using 34 candidate explanatory variables.

RESULTS: Median OS was 34.1 months (95% CI, 30.4-37.6) in the primary analysis population. A considerable negative prognostic impact (descriptive p ≤ 0.0005) on OS was seen with lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) >1.5 × upper limit of normal (adjusted HR [aHR], 3.30; 95% CI, 2.19-4.98), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) ≥2 (aHR, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.56-2.94), World Health Organization (WHO)/International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) Grade 4 (aHR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.43-2.51), C-reactive protein (CRP) level ≥0.3 (aHR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.40-2.26), and age ≥75 years (aHR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.24-2.18) in the multivariable analysis. PD-L1 and immunophenotype affected OS in univariable analyses but were not selected in the multivariable model as explanatory variables.

CONCLUSIONS: JEWEL identified sex, age, ECOG PS, liver and bone metastases, CRP levels, WHO/ISUP grade, LDH, and albumin levels as key prognostic factors for OS after first-line TKI therapy for mRCC.