Patient characteristics
A total of 1174 GBC patients with distant metastasis were included in the analysis (Fig. 1), 824 patients were divided into the training set, and 350 patients were divided into the validation set randomly. Patients’ baseline characteristics were shown in Table 1. There were no statistically significant differences between the two sets. The ratio of male to female patients was 1:2. About 50% of patients were elder than 65 years old, 73.7% of patients were white, the majority T classification was T3-T4, about 41.9% of patients developed lymph node metastasis, Adenocarcinoma was the most prevalent pathological type, accounting for 76.5%. The proportion of liver metastasis is highest (77.2%), followed by distant lymph node (dLN) metastasis (26.1%), lung metastasis (13.6%), bone metastasis (7.8%), and brain metastasis (1.4%). The distribution of different metastatic sites was shown in Fig. 2A. 907 (77.3%) patients with the single distant metastatic site while 267(22.7%) patients with two or more distant metastatic sites. 41.6% of patients performed surgery, which included tumor destruction, tumor resection, 11.0% underwent radiotherapy and 62.3% underwent chemotherapy.
Table 1
Characteristics of GBC patients with distant metastasis
Characteristics
|
Total
(n = 1174)
|
Training set
(n = 824)
|
Validation set
(n = 350)
|
P value
|
Gender n (%)
|
|
|
|
0.334
|
Male
|
359(30.6)
|
245(29.7)
|
114(32.6)
|
|
Female
|
815(69.4)
|
579(70.3)
|
236(67.4)
|
|
Age n (%)
|
|
|
|
0.197
|
≤ 67 years
|
630(53.7)
|
447(54.2)
|
183(52.3)
|
|
68–75 years
|
277(23.6)
|
201(24.4)
|
76(21.7)
|
|
> 75 years
|
267(22.7)
|
176(21.4)
|
91(26.0)
|
|
Race n (%)
|
|
|
|
0.770
|
White
|
865(73.7)
|
610(74.0)
|
255(72.9)
|
|
Black
|
180(15.3)
|
127(15.4)
|
53(15.1)
|
|
Other
|
129(11.0)
|
87(10.6)
|
42(12.0)
|
|
Grade n (%)
|
|
|
|
0.249
|
I-II
|
280(23.9)
|
205(24.9)
|
75(21.4)
|
|
III-IV
|
360(30.7)
|
242(29.4)
|
118(33.7)
|
|
Unknown
|
534(45.5)
|
377(45.8)
|
157(44.9)
|
|
Histology n (%)
|
|
|
|
0.354
|
Adenocarcinoma
|
898(76.5)
|
639(77.5)
|
259(74.0)
|
|
Squamous cell carcinoma
|
32(2.7)
|
20(2.4)
|
12(3.4)
|
|
Others
|
244(20.8)
|
165(20)
|
79(22.6)
|
|
T classification n (%)
|
|
|
|
0.947
|
T0-T2
|
271(23.1)
|
189(22.9)
|
82(23.4)
|
|
T3-T4
|
631(53.7)
|
442(53.6)
|
189(54)
|
|
Unknown
|
272(23.2)
|
193(23.4)
|
79(22.6)
|
|
Lymphatic metastasis n (%)
|
|
|
|
0.588
|
No
|
446(38.0)
|
303(36.8)
|
143(40.9)
|
|
Regional lymph node
|
186(15.8)
|
131(15.9)
|
55(15.7)
|
|
Distant lymph node
|
307(26.1)
|
220(26.7)
|
87(24.9)
|
|
Unknown
|
235(20.0)
|
170(20.6)
|
65(18.6)
|
|
Tumor size n (%)
|
|
|
|
0.542
|
≤ 36mm
|
261(22.2)
|
186(22.6)
|
75(21.4)
|
|
> 36mm
|
336(28.6)
|
228(27.7)
|
108(30.9)
|
|
Unknown
|
577(49.1)
|
410(49.8)
|
167(47.7)
|
|
Liver metastasis
|
906(77.2)
|
635(77.1)
|
271(77.4)
|
0.891
|
Lung metastasis
|
160(13.6)
|
112(13.6)
|
48(13.7)
|
0.956
|
Brain metastasis
|
17(1.4)
|
12(1.5)
|
5(1.4)
|
0.971
|
Bone metastasis
|
92(7.8)
|
59(7.2)
|
33(9.4)
|
0.186
|
Treatment n (%)
|
|
|
|
|
Surgery
|
488(41.6)
|
346(42.0)
|
142(40.6)
|
0.652
|
Radiotherapy
|
129(11.0)
|
99(12.0)
|
30(8.6)
|
0.084
|
Chemotherapy
|
731(62.3)
|
526(63.8)
|
205(58.6)
|
0.089
|
Metastatic sites and survival.
We analyzed the relationship between the metastatic sites and year, the incidence of metastatic sites did not change with the year significantly (Fig. 2B). Then we analyzed the impact of different metastatic sites on survival, we found that patients with dLN metastasis, liver metastasis, bone metastasis, brain metastasis have a significantly worse prognosis than those without corresponding site metastasis, lung metastasis did not have a significant impact on the prognosis of patients(Fig. 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G ), and the patients with dLN metastasis have best prognosis in all patients (median OS: 7 months) and patients with the single metastatic site (median OS:10 months)(Fig. 2H, 2I), We also compared whether two and more metastatic sites had a significant effect on patients survival and found no significant difference between the different metastatic sites (Fig. 2J, Fig. 2K). and patients’ survival time became shorter with the increasing number of metastatic sites (Fig. 2L).
Prognostic factors for GBC patients with distant metastasis.
Prognostic factors of OS were calculated with univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression (Table 2). The results of the multivariate Cox analysis showed that higher grade (HR:1.40, 95%CI[1.14–1.71], P = 0.001), Squamous cell carcinoma (HR:2.30, 95%CI[1.46–3.62], P < 0.001), higher T classification (HR: 1.28,95%CI[1.05–1.56], P = 0.016), liver metastasis (HR:1.33, 95%CI[1.06–1.65], P = 0.012), brain metastasis (HR:2.27, 95%CI[1.22–4.22], P = 0.010), and bone metastasis (HR:1.64, 95%CI[1.21–2.22], P = 0.001) were independent risk factors for survival, surgery (HR:0.60, 95%CI[0.48–0.73], P < 0.001) and chemotherapy (HR:0.44, 95%CI[0.37–0.52], P < 0.001) were independent protective factors for survival.
Table 2
Univariate and multivariate analysis for overall survival (OS).
Prognostic factors
|
Univariate analysis
|
Multivariate analysis
|
HR (95%CI)
|
P-value
|
HR (95%CI)
|
P-value
|
Gender
|
|
|
|
|
Male
|
Reference
|
|
|
|
Female
|
0.92(0.79–1.08)
|
0.314
|
|
|
Age
|
|
|
|
|
≤ 67 years
|
Reference
|
|
Reference
|
|
68–75 years
|
1.16(0.98–1.38)
|
0.094
|
1.10(0.92–1.31)
|
0.296
|
> 75 years
|
1.52(1.27–1.82)
|
P < 0.001
|
1.16(0.96–1.41)
|
0.129
|
Race
|
|
|
|
|
White
|
Reference
|
|
|
|
Black
|
1.09(0.89–1.33)
|
0.394
|
|
|
Other
|
1.06(0.84–1.34)
|
0.633
|
|
|
Grade
|
|
|
|
|
I-II
|
Reference
|
|
Reference
|
|
III-IV
|
1.46(1.20–1.78)
|
P < 0.001
|
1.40(1.14–1.71)
|
0.001
|
Unknown
|
1.64(1.37–1.97)
|
P < 0.001
|
1.11(0.89–1.39)
|
0.366
|
Histology
|
|
|
|
|
Adenocarcinoma
|
Reference
|
|
Reference
|
|
Squamous cell carcinoma
|
2.64(1.68–4.13)
|
P < 0.001
|
2.30(1.46–3.62)
|
P < 0.001
|
Others
|
1.18(0.99–1.41)
|
0.064
|
1.02(0.85–1.23)
|
0.792
|
T classification
|
|
|
|
|
T0-T2
|
Reference
|
|
Reference
|
|
T3-T4
|
1.39(1.16–1.67)
|
P < 0.001
|
1.28(1.05–1.56)
|
0.016
|
Unknown
|
1.74(1.40–2.15)
|
P < 0.001
|
1.06(0.82–1.38)
|
0.635
|
Lymphatic metastasis
|
|
|
|
|
No
|
Reference
|
|
Reference
|
|
Regional lymph node
|
0.99(0.80–1.22)
|
0.932
|
1.01(0.81–1.26)
|
0.927
|
Distant lymph node
|
0.76(0.63–0.91)
|
0.003
|
1.04(0.83–1.30)
|
0.752
|
Unknown
|
1.30(1.07–1.57)
|
0.009
|
1.15(0.94–1.41)
|
0.172
|
Tumor size
|
|
|
|
|
≤ 36mm
|
Reference
|
|
Reference
|
|
> 36mm
|
1.09(0.89–1.34)
|
0.390
|
0.96(0.77–1.20)
|
0.746
|
Unknown
|
1.30(1.08–1.56)
|
0.005
|
1.08(0.88–1.32)
|
0.448
|
Lung metastasis
|
1.03(0.84–1.27)
|
0.776
|
|
|
Liver metastasis
|
1.51(1.26–1.79)
|
P < 0.001
|
1.33(1.06–1.65)
|
0.012
|
Brain metastasis
|
2.49(1.40–4.41)
|
0.002
|
2.27(1.22–4.22)
|
0.010
|
Bone metastasis
|
1.61(1.22–2.12)
|
0.001
|
1.64(1.21–2.22)
|
0.001
|
Treatment
|
|
|
|
|
Surgery
|
0.58(0.50–0.68)
|
P < 0.001
|
0.60(0.48–0.73)
|
P < 0.001
|
Radiotherapy
|
0.68(0.54–0.84)
|
0.001
|
0.89(0.69–1.13)
|
0.331
|
Chemotherapy
|
0.43(0.37–0.50)
|
P < 0.001
|
0.44(0.37–0.52)
|
P < 0.001
|
Abbreviations: HR, hazard ratio; 95%CI, 95% confidence intervals. |
Nomogram and risk stratification
All independent prognostic factors were used to establish the nomogram (Fig. 3). the C-index for OS prediction was 0.706 (95%CI, 0.686–0.726) in the training set and 0.698 (95%CI, 0.665–0.731) in validation set, respectively. The calibration plots of 1-, 2-, 3- year OS also shown agreement between the prediction by nomogram and actual observation in both sets (Fig. 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 4F). The value for each independent prognostic factor was shown in Table 3. The total score for each patient was calculated and risk stratification was established by using the X-tile, patients were divided into three groups: low-risk group (< 123), medium-risk group (125–187), and high-risk group (> 187). There was a significant difference in survival between the three groups (Fig. 5), with a median OS of 10 months, 5 months, 2months, respectively.
Table 3
Risk scores of all prognostic factors in the nomogram
Variables
|
Score
|
Grade
|
|
I-II
|
0
|
III-IV
|
39
|
Unknown
|
12
|
Histology
|
|
Adenocarcinoma
|
0
|
Squamous cell carcinoma
|
96
|
Other
|
0
|
T classification
|
|
T0-T2
|
0
|
T3-T4
|
27
|
Unknown
|
15
|
Liver metastasis
|
|
No
|
0
|
Yes
|
34
|
Bone metastasis
|
|
No
|
0
|
Yes
|
57
|
Brain metastasis
|
|
No
|
0
|
Yes
|
88
|
Surgery
|
|
No
|
64
|
Yes
|
0
|
Chemotherapy
|
|
No
|
100
|
Yes
|
0
|