Association of proton pump inhibitors with survival in Veterans with non-small cell lung cancer receiving immunotherapy.

Abstract

e18729 Background: Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) can disrupt the gut microbiome and thereby modulate response to immunotherapy in cancer patients. In a recently published post-hoc analysis of 757 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients receiving atezolizumab pooled from two prospective trials, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival were significantly lower among the 234 patients receiving PPI. We investigated the impact of PPI in a larger cohort of NSCLC patients treated with ICI within the Veterans Health Administration. Methods: We conducted a nested cohort study of Veterans who were diagnosed with NSCLC between 2010 & 2018 and treated with ICI (immune checkpoint inhibitors). Exposure was defined as receipt of a PPI prescription within 90 days of an ICI infusion. Chi-square tests were used to compare characteristics of exposed versus unexposed Veterans. OS was measured from start of ICI. Cox proportional hazard multivariate (MV) regression was used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) corresponding to variables associated with OS. Results: We identified 3,634 Veterans receiving ICI with non-exclusive exposures to nivolumab (59.3%), pembrolizumab (35.1%), durvalumab (6.9%), and atezolizumab (3.3%). Their median age was 69, and a plurality had male gender (97.0%), white race (73.0%), comorbidity count ≥1 (60.4%), adenocarcinoma (47.8%), and stage IV disease at diagnosis (40.9%). In this nested cohort, 2,159 (59.4%) were exposed to PPI, predominantly omeprazole (1,264 or 85.6% of PPI group). Patients receiving PPI were more likely to be ≤71 years of age, to be white, to reside in rural areas, to have a higher comorbidity burden, to have adenocarcinoma histology, and to receive chemotherapy (all p≤0.04). On MV analysis, PPI use was not significantly associated with detriment in OS (HR 0.96 [0.89-1.04], p= 0.35). In the matched cohort analysis, median survival did not significantly differ between the 1,389 patients taking PPI and the 1,389 without PPI (median 10 versus 10 months, HR 0.98 [0.90-1.06], p= 0.59). Conclusions: In the largest analysis to date of concurrent PPI use in patients with NSCLC receiving ICI, there were no survival differences associated with concomitant PPI use. These results suggest that PPIs do not compromise ICI efficacy.