Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40690022›Full record

ArticleCancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII2025

Is adjuvant immunotherapy necessary after neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy in patients with resectable stage III NSCLC? A two-center real-world study.

Song Guan, Hui Wang, Zhaoxin Chen, Fengrui Guo, Guozhen Yi, Xingyu Du, Jingjing Yan, Cuimeng Tian

Abstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Song GuanDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Beijing Chest Hospital, Capital Medical University & Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute, No.9 Beiguan Street, Tongzhou District, Beijing, 101149, China.
Hui WangDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care, Hebei Petrochina Central Hospital, No. 51 of Xinkai Road, Guangyang District, Langfang, 065000, Hebei, China.
Zhaoxin ChenDepartment of Medical Oncology, Beijing Chest Hospital, Capital Medical University & Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute, Beijing, China.
Fengrui GuoDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care, Hebei Petrochina Central Hospital, No. 51 of Xinkai Road, Guangyang District, Langfang, 065000, Hebei, China.
Guozhen YiDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care, Hebei Petrochina Central Hospital, No. 51 of Xinkai Road, Guangyang District, Langfang, 065000, Hebei, China.
Xingyu DuDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Beijing Chest Hospital, Capital Medical University & Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute, No.9 Beiguan Street, Tongzhou District, Beijing, 101149, China.
Jingjing YanDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care, Hebei Petrochina Central Hospital, No. 51 of Xinkai Road, Guangyang District, Langfang, 065000, Hebei, China. yanjing850103@163.com.
Cuimeng TianDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Beijing Chest Hospital, Capital Medical University & Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute, No.9 Beiguan Street, Tongzhou District, Beijing, 101149, China. tianmeng8950@126.com.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe value of adjuvant immunotherapy in patients with resectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic impact of additional adjuvant immunotherapy in patients with stage III NSCLC.

methodsPatients with stage III NSCLC who received neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy followed by radical surgery, with or without adjuvant immunotherapy, were retrospectively enrolled across two hospitals. Event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed from the initiation of neoadjuvant treatment and were estimated by the Kaplan‒Meier method. One-to-one propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) were used to minimize confounding.

resultsA total of 184 eligible patients were enrolled, of whom 105 (57.1%) received adjuvant immunotherapy and 79 (42.9%) did not. After 1:1 PSM, the addition of adjuvant immunotherapy did not significantly improve EFS (2-year EFS: 62.3% vs. 66.1%, P = 0.653) or OS (2-year OS: 92.7% vs. 89.6%, P = 0.196). Subgroup analyses, stratified by the pathological complete response (pCR) status, further confirmed that adjuvant immunotherapy did not significantly improve survival in either the pCR subgroup or the non-pCR subgroup. Similar results were obtained after IPTW. Exploratory analysis revealed that 3 cycles of neoadjuvant immunotherapy might be more beneficial than 2 (pCR: 40.8% vs. 30.6%, P = 0.292; 2-year EFS: 75.0% vs. 54.5%, P = 0.111) or 4 (pCR: 42.1% vs. 36.8%, P = 0.740; 2-year EFS: 63.2% vs. 51.5%, P = 0.343) cycles.

conclusionThe addition of adjuvant immunotherapy to neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy may not be necessary in patients with resectable stage III NSCLC. Three cycles of neoadjuvant immunotherapy appear to be an appropriate treatment regimen for neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell LungImmunotherapyLung NeoplasmsNeoadjuvant TherapyAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeoplasm StagingPrognosisRetrospective StudiesAdjuvant immunotherapyNeoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapyNon-small cell lung cancerSurgery

Identifiers

PMID40690022
PMCPMC12279636

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.