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Meta-Analysis
. 2016 Aug 2;11(8):e0160485.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160485. eCollection 2016.

PD-1 Antibody Monotherapy for Malignant Melanoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Zhijuan Lin  1 , Xing Chen  2 , Zhifeng Li  1 , Yiming Luo  1 , Zhihong Fang  1 , Bing Xu  1 , Mingzhe Han  1   3   4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

PD-1 Antibody Monotherapy for Malignant Melanoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Zhijuan Lin et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Antibodies targeting programmed death 1 (PD-1) help prevent tumor cells from escaping immune-mediated destruction. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to gain insight into the efficacy of PD-1 antibodies for the treatment of melanoma. Five trials involving 2,828 adult patients were included in this meta-analysis. In patients with previously untreated or refractory melanoma, treatment with PD-1 antibodies significantly improved the six-month progression-free survival (PFS) (HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.50-0.60, P<0.00001) and the overall response rate (OR 3.89, 95% CI 3.12-4.83, P<0.00001). This meta-analysis indicated that anti-PD-1 treatment might provide a significant survival benefit in patients with melanoma. In addition, we found that patients treated with nivolumab reported significantly fewer treatment-related adverse events (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.57-0.97, P = 0.03) than those treated with other agents, but there was a dose-dependent increase in the frequency of adverse events in patients treated with pembrolizumab.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flow diagram of the literature search.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Risk of bias summary.
The overall risk of bias was rated as low in all eligible studies.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Risk of bias graph.
The overall risk of bias was rated as low in all eligible studies.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Meta-analysis of the 6-month PFS rates in the PD-1 antibody monotherapy groups and the other groups.
The six-month PFS rate was greater among patients who received PD-1 antibodies than among those who received other treatments.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Meta-analysis of the overall response rate in the PD-1 antibody monotherapy groups and the other treatment groups.
PD-1 antibody treatment was associated with a higher overall response rate.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Meta-analysis of the overall treatment-related adverse events associated with nivolumab.
Patients treated with nivolumab had a lower incidence of adverse events.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Meta-analysis of the overall treatment-related adverse events associated with pembrolizumab.
Subgroup analysis of patients treated with different doses of pembrolizumab revealed a dose-dependent increase in adverse events.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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