Global prevalence of claudin 18 isoform 2 in tumors of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma

• DOI: 10.1007/s10120-024-01518-1
• Publication Date: 2024-07-02T15:31:58Z
• Authors: Kohei Shitara; Rui-Hua Xu; Jaffer A. Ajani; Diarmuid Moran; Abraham Guerrero; Ran Li; Janet Pavese; Maria Matsangou; Pranob Bhattacharya; Yoko Ueno; Xuewei Wang; Manish A. Shah
• Keywords: Male; Adult; Esophageal Neoplasms; Adenocarcinoma; Middle Aged; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Stomach Neoplasms; Claudins; Biomarkers, Tumor; Prevalence; Humans; Protein Isoforms; Original Article; Female; Esophagogastric Junction; Aged

Abstract Background Limited data exist for global prevalence of claudin 18 isoform 2 (CLDN18.2) positivity and association of CLDN18.2 status with clinical and tumor characteristics in patients with locally advanced (LA) unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (mG/GEJ) adenocarcinoma. We report prevalence of CLDN18.2 positivity (phase 3; SPOTLIGHT, NCT03504397; GLOW, NCT03653507) and concordance of CLDN18.2 status between a subset of pair-matched tumor samples (phase 2, ILUSTRO, NCT03505320; phase 1, NCT03528629) from clinical studies of zolbetuximab.

Methods Tumor samples from patients with LA unresectable or mG/GEJ adenocarcinoma were tested for CLDN18.2 status by immunohistochemistry. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression was tested per central or local assessment.

Results Across SPOTLIGHT and GLOW, the prevalence of CLDN18.2 positivity (≥ 75% of tumor cells demonstrating moderate-to-strong membranous CLDN18 staining) was 38.4%. Prevalence was similar in gastric versus GEJ adenocarcinoma samples and regardless of collection method (biopsy versus resection) or collection site (primary versus metastatic). CLDN18.2 positivity was most prevalent in patients with diffuse-type tumors. In ILUSTRO and the phase 1 study, concordance of CLDN18.2 positivity was 61.1% between archival (i.e., any time before treatment) and baseline (i.e., ≤ 3 months before first treatment) samples, and concordance of any CLDN18 staining (≥ 1% of tumor cells demonstrating moderate-to-strong membranous CLDN18 staining) was 88.9%.

Conclusions CLDN18.2 was a highly prevalent biomarker in patients with HER2-negative, LA unresectable or mG/GEJ adenocarcinoma. CLDN18.2 positivity remained relatively stable over time in many patients. Biomarker testing for CLDN18.2 should be considered in standard clinical practice in these patients.