SynthesisEuropean journal of clinical pharmacology2025
Efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in European journal of clinical pharmacology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitor-combination therapy versus chemotherapy alone among Chinese population in cholangiocarcinoma treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab in treating advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are inconsistent across studies. This study sheds light on the efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab in advanced HCC patients.
methodsSeveral databases were comprehensively searched up to January 13, 2025, to identify studies assessing pembrolizumab for advanced HCC. Outcome indicators included overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), rash, adverse events (AEs), and severe adverse events (SAEs). Pooled effects were estimated through hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). R 4.4.1. was employed for statistical analyses.
resultsTwenty-two studies involving 2964 patients were encompassed. Meta-analysis indicated that pembrolizumab demonstrated an ORR of 28% in single-arm analyses. Pembrolizumab significantly improved ORR in comparison to placebo (OR = 2.57, 95% CI: 1.32-5.03) but showed no significant advantage over nivolumab. Pembrolizumab markedly enhanced PFS (HR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.69-0.85) and OS (HR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.70-0.88) compared to placebo, but no significant differences were observed when compared to nivolumab. Pembrolizumab significantly raised the risk of rash in comparison to placebo (OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.55-3.31) but showed no significant difference versus nivolumab. The pembrolizumab group showed a higher incidence of AEs (OR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.42-2.64) and SAEs (OR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.04-4.25) than the placebo group, with no significant difference between pembrolizumab and nivolumab.
conclusionsThis study proves that pembrolizumab may have promising therapeutic effects in patients with advanced HCC, although no clear advantage over nivolumab was observed. The occurrence of AEs warrants attention in clinical practice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
40172662What OpenQuestion holds
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.