Table 1.
Characteristics of included clinical trials in the meta-analysis.
| Author, year | Trial phase | Line | Histotype | Agent of immunotherapy | Number of patients |
Therapeutic regimen |
Number of inclusions |
Median follow-up time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Treatment | Control | Treatment | Control | ||||||
| Brahmer J et al., 2015 | 3 | Non-first | Sq | PD-1 | 208 | 64 | Nivolumab | Docetaxel | 135 | 137 | 11+ months |
| Borghaei H et al., 2015 | 3 | Non-first | Non-sq | PD-1 | 319 | 263 | Nivolumab | Docetaxel | 292 | 290 | 18 months |
| Carbone DP et al., 2017 | 3 | First | All | PD-1 | 332 | 209 | Nivolumab | Chemotherapy | 271 | 270 | 13.5 months |
| Govindan R et al., 2017 | 3 | First | Sq | CTLA-4 | 635 | 114 | Ipilimumab + chemotherapy | Placebo + chemotherapy | 388 | 361 | 12.5 months |
| Fehrenbacher L et al., 2018 | 3 | Non-first | All | PD-L1 | 758 | 467 | Atezolizumab | Docetaxel | 613 | 612 | 21 months |
| Barlesi F et al., 2018 | 3 | Non-first | All | PD-L1 | 367 | 162 | Avelumab | Docetaxel | 264 | 265 | 17.8+ months |
| Gandhi L et al., 2018 | 3 | First | Non-sq | PD-1 | 363 | 253 | Pembrolizumab + chemotherapy | Placebo + chemotherapy | 410 | 206 | 10.5 months |
| Paz-Ares L et al., 2018 | 3 | First | Sq | PD-1 | 455 | 104 | Pembrolizumab + chemotherapy | Placebo + chemotherapy | 278 | 281 | 7.8 months |
| West H et al., 2019 | 3 | First | Non-sq | PD-L1 | 400 | 279 | Atezolizumab + chemotherapy | Chemotherapy | 451 | 228 | 18.5+ months |
| Reck M et al., 2019 | 3 | First | All | PD-1 | 187 | 118 | Pembrolizumab | Chemotherapy | 154 | 151 | 25.2 months |
| Hellmann MD et al., 2019 | 3 | First | All | PD-1 + CTLA-4 | 515 | 278 | Nivolumab + ipilimumab | Chemotherapy | 396 | 397 | 29.3+ months |
| Herbst RS et al., 2020 | 2/3 | Non-first | All | PD-1 | 634 | 399 | Pembrolizumab | Docetaxel | 690 | 343 | 42.6 months |
| Wu YL et al., 2021 | 3 | First | All | PD-1 | 224 | 38 | Pembrolizumab | Chemotherapy | 128 | 134 | 33.0 months |
| Nishio M et al., 2021 | 3 | First | Non-sq | PD-L1 | 384 | 194 | Atezolizumab + chemotherapy | Chemotherapy | 292 | 286 | 14.8 months |
| Faivre-Finn C et al., 2021 | 3 | Non-first | All | PD-L1 | 500 | 213 | Durvalumab | Placebo | 476 | 237 | 34.2 months |
| Paz-Ares L et al., 2021 | 3 | First | All | PD-1 + CTLA-4 | 504 | 215 | Nivolumab + ipilimumab + chemotherapy | Chemotherapy | 361 | 358 | 13.2 months |
sq: squamous; non-sq: non-squamous; PD-1: programmed cell death protein 1; PD-L1: programmed cell death 1 ligand 1; CTLA-4: cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4.