The efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy in lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Min Peng,1 Xing Li,2 Gu Lei,3 Yi Ming Weng,1 Meng Xue Hu,1 Qi Bin Song1 1Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, Hubei Province, China; 2Department of Urology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, Hubei Province, China; 3Department of Pathology, Huangshi Central Hospital of Edong Healthcare Group, Huangshi 435000, Hubei Province, China Abstract: The value of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) combination therapy for patients with lung cancer remains unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis using PubMed, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases to identify eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that might provide a reference for clinical practice. The selection criteria were defined according to the population, intervention, comparison, outcome and study design (PICOS) framework. In all, 12 RCTs with 5,989 patients were included in this meta-analysis. Our results showed that ICI combination therapy was significantly associated with the improvement of overall response rate (ORR) (RR =1.44 [95% CI 1.19, 1.74], P=0.0002), progression-free survival (PFS) (HR =0.67 [95% CI 0.59, 0.77], P