Efficacy and safety of nab-paclitaxel or combined nab-paclitaxel and immune checkpoint inhibitors in relapsed small-cell lung cancer

• Published in: Therapeutic advances in medical oncology Vol. 15; p. 17588359231179315
• Main Authors: Wan, Rui, Guo, Yanrong, Hao, Xuezhi, Wang, Zhijie, Duan, Jianchun, Wang, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2023; Sage Publications Ltd; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Antitumor activity; Apoptosis; Cell death; Chemotherapy; Electronic medical records; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Lung cancer; Lung diseases; Original Research; Paclitaxel; PD-1 protein; PD-L1 protein; Safety; Small cell lung carcinoma; anti-PD-L1; combination immunotherapy; small-cell lung cancer; anti-PD-1; chemotherapy
• ISSN: 1758-8359; 1758-8340; 1758-8359
• DOI: 10.1177/17588359231179315

Background: Most patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) experience disease progression after first-line chemotherapy. Notably, nab-paclitaxel monotherapy has antitumor activity in relapsed SCLC. Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of combined of nab-paclitaxel and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in relapsed SCLC. Design: We retrospectively analyzed patients with relapsed SCLC who received nab-paclitaxel or combined nab-paclitaxel and ICIs (anti-programmed death-1, PD-1 or anti-programmed cell death 1 ligand, PD-L1) between February 2017 and September 2021. Methods: Efficacy and safety data were collected from electronic health records. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed using the Kaplan–Meier method and a standard log-rank test. Results: We included 56 patients with relapsed SCLC, of which 29 received nab-paclitaxel alone (Group A), and 27 received combined nab-paclitaxel and ICIs (Group B). Baseline characteristics were similar between the two groups. Group B had a numerically higher objective response rate than Group A (40.7% versus 17.2%; p = 0.052). However, combined nab-paclitaxel and ICIs failed to demonstrate survival superiority over nab-paclitaxel monotherapy [median PFS: 3.2 months versus 2.8 months (p = 0.5225); median OS: 11.0 months versus 9.3 months (p = 0.7298)]. The safety profiles of Groups A and B were both tolerable. Conclusion: This study indicated that compared with nab-paclitaxel monotherapy, combined nab-paclitaxel and ICIs failed to improve survival in relapsed SCLC.