Identifying patients who benefit more from perioperative immunotherapy combinations for resectable non-small cell lung cancer based on clinical and molecular characteristics: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

This study aims to identify patient subgroups who benefit more from perioperative immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy (IO-CT) based on clinical and molecular characteristics in resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on perioperative IO-CT were searched. Beneficial differences of IO-CT regimens across different patient subgroups were assessed by pooling trial-specific ratios in event-free survival (EFS), overall survival (OS), pathological complete response (pCR), and major pathological response (MPR).

Six studies (n = 3003) involving five IO-CT regimens were included. Compared to CT alone, all IO-CT regimens significantly improved EFS, OS, MPR, and pCR, but increased toxicity. Toripa-chemo showed the best EFS and nivo-chemo showed the best OS. Patients with PD-L1 ≥ 1% had more EFS benefits compared to those with PD-L1 < 1% (HR [hazard ratio]: 1.55, 95% CI 1.17–2.04). Squamous NSCLC patients had significantly more pCR and MPR benefits than non-squamous NSCLC patients (pCR: OR [odds ratio] 0.68, 95% CI 0.49–0.95; MPR: OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.45–0.82). Former smokers had significantly higher pCR benefits than non-smokers (OR: 2.18; 95% CI 1.21–3.92). Additionally, OS benefit was significantly higher in patients < 65 years compared to those ≥ 65 years (HR ratio: 0.59, 95% CI 0.36–0.95). For MPR, males benefited significantly more from IO-CT compared to females (OR: 1.69, 95% CI 1.18–2.42).

Perioperative IO-CT is more effective but more toxic than CT alone in resectable NSCLC. Patients with PD-L1 ≥ 1%, squamous NSCLC, a history of smoking, age < 65 years and male gender may experience greater benefits from perioperative IO-CT.