Fang Y, Zhao Y, Yu X, Liu S, Tao G, Zhong H, Xiang H, Yang Y, Shi Z. Immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with paclitaxel-based chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone as first-line treatment in HER2-negative advanced gastric cancer: result of a multicenter retrospective study.
J Gastrointest Oncol 2024;
15:585-596. [PMID:
38756641 PMCID:
PMC11094499 DOI:
10.21037/jgo-23-814]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Background
Platinum-based chemotherapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is now becoming the standard first-line therapy for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative advanced gastric cancer (AGC). In China, paclitaxel has shown good efficacy and tolerability in AGC as an alternative for first-line therapy. Combining ICIs with paclitaxel-based chemotherapy may lead to improved tumor immune microenvironment, but evidence in paclitaxel combing with ICIs as first-line regimen is lacking. This multicenter, retrospective research aims to compare effectiveness and tolerability of paclitaxel-based chemotherapy combined with ICIs versus chemotherapy alone as a first-line treatment of HER2-negative AGC in a real-world setting.
Methods
Eighty-six patients with HER2-negative AGC were included from 2017 to 2022. Among them, 57 patients received paclitaxel-based chemotherapy plus ICIs, and 29 patients received paclitaxel-based chemotherapy alone. We compared the efficacy and incidence of adverse events between the two therapy options.
Results
Significant improvements in median progression-free survival (PFS) (8.77 versus 7.47 months; P=0.04) and median overall survival (OS) (15.70 versus 14.33 months; P=0.04) were observed in the ICIs combined with paclitaxel-based chemotherapy group. The use of ICIs also significantly prolonged the duration of response (DOR) (7.47 versus 4.59 months; P=0.02). Meanwhile, the ICIs plus chemotherapy group demonstrated significantly improved objective response rate (ORR) (50.9% vs. 27.6%; P=0.03) and disease control rate (DCR) (98.3% vs. 82.8%; P=0.01), and the side effects were tolerable.
Conclusions
In summary, for HER2-negative AGC, ICIs plus paclitaxel-based chemotherapy is effective with mild toxicities, which should be considered as an alternative first-line therapy regimen.
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