The efficacy and safety of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies for treatment of advanced or refractory cancers: A meta-analysis.
e23075 Background: Immunotherapy based on anti-PD-1 (Programmed death 1)/PD-L1 (PD-1 Ligand 1) antibodies have achieved significant successes from bench to clinic. In this study, we systematically evaluate the overall efficacy and safety of current anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies for treatment of patients with advanced or refractory cancer. Methods: Clinical trials reporting response or safety of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies for advanced or refractory cancer patients published were searched in PubMed and EMBASE database. Meta-analyses using random effects models were used to calculate the overall estimate. Results: Fifty-one trials including 6,800 patients were included. The overall response rates for melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were 29% (95% CI: 1.53-2.41), 21% (95% CI: 17%-25%) and 21% (95% CI: 16%-27%) respectively. While the overall adverse effects rate for melanoma, NSCLC, RCC were 16% (95% CI: 6%-28%), 11% (95% CI: 8%-14%) and 20% (95% CI: 11%-32%) respectively. Tumor PD-L1 expression and patient smoking status might serve as biomarkers to predict response of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibody treatment. Compared to tumors with negative PD-L1 expression, tumors with positive PD-L1 expression had a significantly higher clinical response rate (41.4% versus 26.5%) with RR = 1.92 (95% CI: 1.53-2.41, P< 0.001). Smoker patients also showed a significantly higher response rate (33.7%) than patients who never smoked (4.2%) with RR = 6.02 (95% CI: 1.22-29.75, P= 0.028). Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab were associated with significantly increased response rate (RR = 2.89, 95% CI: 2.46-3.40, P< 0.001), reduced death risk (HR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.48-0.57; P< 0.001), and decreased adverse effect rate (RR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.30-0.80, P= 0.004) compared with other therapies. Conclusions: Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies have high response rates and low adverse effect rates for advanced or refractory cancers. PD-L1 expression was associated with better clinical response of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibody based immunotherapy.