Systemic inflammation adversely affects response to anamorelin in patients with pancreatic cancer

Purpose: Anamorelin, a selective ghrelin receptor agonist, has been approved for pancreatic cancer treatment in Japan. We aimed to investigate whether systemic inflammation, represented by the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR), and C-reactive protein (CRP)-albumin ratio (CAR), could predict the effect of anamorelin in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Methods This study included 31 patients who had received anamorelin for advanced pancreatic cancer between 2021 and 2023. Patients’ NLR, PLR, LMR, and CAR were evaluated before anamorelin administration. The patients were classified as responders and non-responders based on whether they gained body weight after 3 months of anamorelin administration. We investigated the association between systemic inflammation and anamorelin efficacy using a univariate analysis. Results Twelve (39%) patients were non-responders. A high serum CRP level ( p  = 0.007) and high CAR ( p  = 0.013) was associated with non-response to anamorelin. According to the receiver operating characteristics analysis, the CAR cutoff value was 0.06, and CAR ≥ 0.06 was a risk factor (odds ratio, 5.6 [95% confidence interval 1.2–27.1], p  = 0.032) for non-response to anamorelin. Conclusion CAR can be a predictor of non-response to anamorelin in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, suggesting the importance of a comprehensive assessment of the inflammatory status.