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Prognostic immunotherapy score (PIS) in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab: real-world data and validation from ARON-2 dataset

Prognostic immunotherapy score (PIS) in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab: real-world data and validation from ARON-2 dataset
Prognostic immunotherapy score (PIS) in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab: real-world data and validation from ARON-2 dataset

Recent years have seen the development and advent of novel combinatorial strategies based on immunotherapy, and immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) - based treatment has established itself as a mainstay in the treatment of metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC). Herein, we aimed to validate the prognostic value of a previously developed score, the Prognostic Immunotherapy Score (PIS), including female sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG-PS) and liver metastases, in patients treated with pembrolizumab for advanced UC from the ARON-2 dataset. We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from Metastatic UC patients diagnosed at age ≥ 18 years. Patients progressing or recurring after platinum-based therapy were included, and treated with pembrolizumab from January 1st, 2016, to December 31st, 2023, in 68 oncological centers from 21 Countries. The Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate the median follow-up. Cox proportional hazard models were used to compare the multivariable effects on patients' survival and to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A survival receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was exploited in relation to OS and PFS in patients stratified by the presence of 0, 1 or ≥ 2 risk factors and OS with 0, 1 or ≥ 2 risk factors in patients stratified by age, tumor histology, site and time to metastatic disease. The comparison between subgroups was performed with the Fisher exact test. We included 1040 patients from the ARON-2 dataset. We further stratified patients based on the three previously published risk factors: female sex, ECOG-PS = 2 and liver metastases; 526 patients (51%) had 0 risk factors, 408 patients (39%) had 1 factor and 106 patients (10%) had ≥ 2 risk factors. At univariate and multivariate analyses, bone metastases, synchronous metastatic disease and our PIS model based on female sex, liver metastasis, and poor performance status were significantly associated with both OS and PFS. Our findings validate the PIS as a practical scoring model using sex, ECOG-PS, and liver metastasis to stratify survival outcomes in advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab, supporting more personalized treatment decisions.

Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized/therapeutic use, Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological/therapeutic use, Carcinoma, Transitional Cell/drug therapy, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/therapeutic use, Immunotherapy/methods, Liver Neoplasms/secondary, Male, Middle Aged, Prognosis, Retrospective Studies, Survival Rate, Urologic Neoplasms/drug therapy, Advanced urothelial carcinoma, Real world, Prognostic index, Validation study, Pembrolizumab, Immunotherapy
0262-0898
Rizzo, Alessandro
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Zayed, Anas
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Vitale, Elsa
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Buti, Sebastiano
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Takeshita, Hideki
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Crabb, Simon
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Roviello, Giandomenico
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Seront, Emmanuel
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Tapia, Jose Carlos
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Scagliarini, Sarah
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Popovic, Lazar
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Kopp, Ray Manneh
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Abahssain, Halima
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Rizzo, Mimma
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Monteiro, Fernando Sabino Marques
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Massafra, Raffaella
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Brunetti, Oronzo
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Santini, Daniele
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Ürün, Yüksel
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Montironi, Rodolfo
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Mollica, Veronica
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Massari, Francesco
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Soares, Andrey
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Santoni, Matteo
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et al.
Rizzo, Alessandro
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Zayed, Anas
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Vitale, Elsa
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Buti, Sebastiano
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Takeshita, Hideki
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Crabb, Simon
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Roviello, Giandomenico
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Seront, Emmanuel
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Tapia, Jose Carlos
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Scagliarini, Sarah
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Popovic, Lazar
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Kopp, Ray Manneh
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Abahssain, Halima
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Rizzo, Mimma
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Monteiro, Fernando Sabino Marques
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Massafra, Raffaella
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Brunetti, Oronzo
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Santini, Daniele
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Ürün, Yüksel
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Montironi, Rodolfo
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Mollica, Veronica
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Massari, Francesco
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Soares, Andrey
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Santoni, Matteo
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Rizzo, Alessandro, Zayed, Anas and Vitale, Elsa , et al. (2025) Prognostic immunotherapy score (PIS) in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab: real-world data and validation from ARON-2 dataset. Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, 42 (5), [52]. (doi:10.1007/s10585-025-10374-x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Recent years have seen the development and advent of novel combinatorial strategies based on immunotherapy, and immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) - based treatment has established itself as a mainstay in the treatment of metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC). Herein, we aimed to validate the prognostic value of a previously developed score, the Prognostic Immunotherapy Score (PIS), including female sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG-PS) and liver metastases, in patients treated with pembrolizumab for advanced UC from the ARON-2 dataset. We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from Metastatic UC patients diagnosed at age ≥ 18 years. Patients progressing or recurring after platinum-based therapy were included, and treated with pembrolizumab from January 1st, 2016, to December 31st, 2023, in 68 oncological centers from 21 Countries. The Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate the median follow-up. Cox proportional hazard models were used to compare the multivariable effects on patients' survival and to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A survival receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was exploited in relation to OS and PFS in patients stratified by the presence of 0, 1 or ≥ 2 risk factors and OS with 0, 1 or ≥ 2 risk factors in patients stratified by age, tumor histology, site and time to metastatic disease. The comparison between subgroups was performed with the Fisher exact test. We included 1040 patients from the ARON-2 dataset. We further stratified patients based on the three previously published risk factors: female sex, ECOG-PS = 2 and liver metastases; 526 patients (51%) had 0 risk factors, 408 patients (39%) had 1 factor and 106 patients (10%) had ≥ 2 risk factors. At univariate and multivariate analyses, bone metastases, synchronous metastatic disease and our PIS model based on female sex, liver metastasis, and poor performance status were significantly associated with both OS and PFS. Our findings validate the PIS as a practical scoring model using sex, ECOG-PS, and liver metastasis to stratify survival outcomes in advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab, supporting more personalized treatment decisions.

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Accepted/In Press date: 16 August 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 6 September 2025
Published date: 6 September 2025
Keywords: Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized/therapeutic use, Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological/therapeutic use, Carcinoma, Transitional Cell/drug therapy, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/therapeutic use, Immunotherapy/methods, Liver Neoplasms/secondary, Male, Middle Aged, Prognosis, Retrospective Studies, Survival Rate, Urologic Neoplasms/drug therapy, Advanced urothelial carcinoma, Real world, Prognostic index, Validation study, Pembrolizumab, Immunotherapy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 506374
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/506374
ISSN: 0262-0898
PURE UUID: 677e8197-57b2-40e2-bf01-3a109e4ab079
ORCID for Simon Crabb: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3521-9064

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Date deposited: 05 Nov 2025 17:41
Last modified: 08 Nov 2025 02:38

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Contributors

Author: Alessandro Rizzo
Author: Anas Zayed
Author: Elsa Vitale
Author: Sebastiano Buti
Author: Hideki Takeshita
Author: Simon Crabb ORCID iD
Author: Giandomenico Roviello
Author: Emmanuel Seront
Author: Jose Carlos Tapia
Author: Sarah Scagliarini
Author: Lazar Popovic
Author: Ray Manneh Kopp
Author: Halima Abahssain
Author: Mimma Rizzo
Author: Fernando Sabino Marques Monteiro
Author: Raffaella Massafra
Author: Oronzo Brunetti
Author: Daniele Santini
Author: Yüksel Ürün
Author: Rodolfo Montironi
Author: Veronica Mollica
Author: Francesco Massari
Author: Andrey Soares
Author: Matteo Santoni
Corporate Author: et al.

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