Efficacy and Safety of Combination Therapy With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors and Chemotherapy With Gemcitabine and Nab-Paclitaxel in Pancreatic Cancer: A Systematic Review - PubMed
3 days ago
- #immune-checkpoint-inhibitors
- #chemotherapy
- #pancreatic-cancer
- Pancreatic cancer (PC) has a low 5-year survival rate of 13% and is the 7th leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally.
- Monotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) shows limited success in PC, with response rates below 5% and median survival rarely exceeding 6 months.
- This systematic review evaluates the efficacy and safety of combining gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel with ICIs in pancreatic cancer.
- Seven studies met inclusion criteria, showing median overall survival of ~15 months for combination therapy vs. 8-9 months for chemotherapy alone.
- Progression-free survival ranged from 5.5-9 months for combination therapy vs. 3.5-5.5 months for chemotherapy alone.
- Objective response rates varied between 18%-50% for combination therapy and 23%-29% for chemotherapy alone.
- Grade 3-4 adverse events were mainly hematologic (anemia, neutropenia) and neurologic (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy).
- Combining ICIs with chemotherapy appears feasible and safe, with potential efficacy improvements, but further large-scale trials are needed.