Impact of Squamous Histology on Clinical Outcomes and Molecular Profiling in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors or Enfortumab Vedotin

Abstract

Introduction Urothelial carcinoma with squamous differentiation (UCS) is associated with increased resistance to chemotherapy, but outcomes associated with newer therapies approved in this space over the last 5-10 years are less well defined. We investigated clinical outcomes and molecular profiling of patients with UCS treated with an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) and/or enfortumab vedotin (EV). Patients and Methods We undertook a retrospective analysis of UC patients treated with ICI and/or EV. Objective response rate (ORR), progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared between pure UC (pUC) and UCS using Chi-Square and log-rank tests, respectively. Prevalence of the most commonly detected somatic alterations were also compared between the two histologic subgroups. Results A total of 160 patients (40 UCS, 120 pUC) were identified for this analysis. Among 151 patients treated with ICI (38 UCS, 113 pUC), UCS patients had a shorter mPFS (1.9 vs 4.8 months, p<0.01) and mOS (9.2 vs 20.7 months, p<0.01) compared to pUC. Among 37 patients treated with EV (12 UCS, 25 pUC), UCS patients had a lower ORR (17% vs 70%, p<0.01) and shorter mPFS (3.4 vs 15.8 months, p<0.01). UCS samples were enriched for CDKN2A, CDKN2B, PIK3CA, while pUC samples were enriched for ERBB2 alterations. Conclusion In this single-center retrospective analysis, patients with UCS had a distinct somatic genomic profile relative to patients with pUC. Patients with UCS also had inferior outcomes to ICIs and EV compared to patients with pUC. Micro-Abstract Urothelial carcinoma with squamous differentiation (UCS) is a common variant of bladder cancer for which treatment outcomes with novel agents are largely unknown. In this retrospective analysis comparing 40 patients with UCS and 120 patients with pure UC, we found inferior outcomes for UCS patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors or enfortumab vedotin. This highlights an important unmet clinical need that should be addressed with further studies.