The role of immunotherapy plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone as first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

Background: Recently published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) showed improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) with the combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy as compared to chemotherapy alone in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to provide a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs regarding the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy and chemotherapy combinations for advanced NSCLC.

Methods: On December 23^rd, 2021, we searched databases for RCTs that reported PFS and OS as primary outcomes.

Results: We included 11 RCTs with 6,386 patients (3,850 in the combination therapy group and 2,536 in the chemotherapy group). Combination therapy was associated with an improvement in PFS (HR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.54, 0.66; P < 0.00001) andOS (HR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.68, 0.87; P ≤ 0.0001), compared to chemotherapy. There were no significant differences between both groups in terms of treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) (RR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.16; P = 0.09).

Conclusion: The combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced NSCLC significantly improved PFS and OS compared to chemotherapy alone without a significant increase in the overall TRAEs.

Keywords: Chemotherapy; immunotherapy; meta-analysis; non-small cell lung cancer; survival; systematic review.