SynthesisThoracic cancer2025
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors +/- Chemotherapy for Patients With NSCLC and Brain Metastases: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Thoracic cancer, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy and safety of immunotherapy combined with chemoradiotherapy in limited-stage small cell lung cancer: a systematic evaluation and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of first-line immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer with or without brain metastases: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Forecasting the risk of early death among patients suffering from lung cancer with brain metastasis after radiotherapy using interpretable machine learning: a study based on the SEER database.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Article
- Tumorigenesis and Tumor Microenvironment in Lung Cancer.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Review
- Survival Outcomes of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Conjunction with Cranial Radiation for Older Adults with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Synchronous Brain Metastasis.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Article
- Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in Patients with Brain Metastases from Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Emerging Mechanisms and Personalized Clinical Strategies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Medulloblastoma: biology and immunotherapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMultiple studies have demonstrated the intracranial efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) +/- chemotherapy. The efficacy of chemoimmunotherapy compared to ICI alone in patients with metastatic NSCLC and brain metastases (BM) remains unknown.
methodsA systematic review and network meta-analysis were performed to evaluate ICI efficacy and the influence of additional chemotherapy on survival outcomes in treatment-naïve metastatic NSCLC with BM. Randomized phase II/III studies with at least one treatment arm with an ICI were eligible. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with and without BM were assessed.
resultsTen studies were included, totaling 6560 patients, 770 with BM. Pairwise meta-analysis revealed that patients with BM treated with ICI +/- chemotherapy had improved PFS (hazard ratio [HR] 0.49; 95% CI 0.40-0.60) and OS (HR 0.55; 95% CI 0.44-0.68) versus chemotherapy alone. Patients without BM treated with ICI +/- chemotherapy also had improved PFS and OS compared to chemotherapy alone. In the network meta-analysis of patients with BM, chemoimmunotherapy demonstrated improved PFS compared to ICI alone (HR 0.64; 95% CI 0.43-0.96; p = 0.03). No significant difference was observed in OS. In the population of patients without BM, no significant differences in PFS or OS were observed between chemoimmunotherapy versus ICI alone.
conclusionThis meta-analysis confirms that ICIs with or without chemotherapy are superior to chemotherapy alone for the first-line management of metastatic NSCLC with and without BM. This network meta-analysis suggests combination chemoimmunotherapy offers PFS benefit over ICI monotherapy in BM patients, warranting direct comparisons in clinical trials.
trial registrationPROSPERO: CRD42024501345.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.