Effectiveness of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Patients With Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Meta-analysis Including Low PD-L1 Subgroups.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have improved survival outcomes of patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in both first- and second-line settings. However, the benefit of ICIs in patients with low programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression remains unclear.

Objective

To derive survival data for patient subgroups with low PD-L1 expression from clinical trials comparing ICIs with chemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and to perform a pooled analysis.

Data sources

Kaplan-Meier curves from the randomized clinical trials were extracted after a systematic search of Scopus, Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science from inception until October 1, 2021.

Study selection

Randomized clinical trials that investigated the effectivene

SUBMITTER: Yap DWT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9857522 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature