NSCLC: Are immune checkpoint inhibitors effective against brain metastases?

Key clinical point: A meta-analysis suggests that immune checkpoint inhibitors are not very effective against brain metastases (BM) in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), except in patients with a programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) tumor proportion score (TPS) of ≥50%.

Major finding: In PD-L1 unselected patients with any BM, the pooled intracranial objective response rate (icORR) was 13% and intracranial disease control rate (icDCR) was 50%. In patients with PD-L1 TPS of ≥50%, the pooled icORR and icDCR increased to 68% and 82%, respectively.

Study details: The data come from a meta-analysis of 33 cohort studies involving 12,154 patients with NSCLC and 2744 patients with NSCLC and BM.

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Disclosures: The study was partially funded by the China National Major Project for New Drug Innovation. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Source: Chen H et al. Brain metastases and immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2022 Jun 1. Doi: 10.1007/s00262-022-03224-2