In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Wang et al characterized treatment-related adverse event profiles associated with monotherapy use of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors in clinical trials.
Study Details
Studies eligible for inclusion in the analysis had to meet the following criteria: cancer therapy clinical trial; patients were treated with a single-agent PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor; tabulated data on treatment-related adverse events were reported; and the study was published in English.
The analysis included 125 clinical trials involving 20,128 patients treated with PD-1 (eg, nivolumab and pembrolizumab) or PD-L1 inhibitors (eg, atezolizumab, avelumab, and durvalumab).
Key Findings on Treatment-Related Adverse Events
The investigators concluded, “Different PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors appear to have varying treatment-related adverse events; a comprehensive summary of the incidences of treatment-related adverse events in clinical trials provides an important guide for clinicians.”
Michael L. Wang, MD, of the Department of Lymphoma & Myeloma, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the corresponding author for the JAMA Oncology article.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit jamanetwork.com.
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