Purpose: No definite conclusion has yet to be reached for the first-line treatment combined with chemotherapy for advanced adenocarcinoma NSCLC patients with negative driver genes. This study sought to compare the clinical outcomes of Beva+ChT and IO+ChT as first-line treatment for this population and investigated whether the statuses of BM, PD-L1 expression, and KRAS and TP53 mutations could influence the results.
Patients and methods: The clinical data of patients with adenocarcinoma NSCLC who received first-line therapy were retrospectively collected and the patients were assigned to the IO+ChT and Beva+ChT groups. The disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were evaluated between the two groups. The survival effects of BM, PD-L1 expression, and KRAS and TP53 mutations were also evaluated.
Results: From April 2018 to October 2020, a total of 105 patients with first-line therapy were included in our analysis; 54 (51.4%) patients were included in the IO+ChT group and 51 (48.6%) patients were included in the Beva+ChT group. The results showed that OS (NR vs. 18.3 m, p = 0.011) and PFS (14.9 m vs. 6.3 m, p < 0.001) were superior in patients in the IO+ChT group than in patients in the Beva+ChT group. Further analysis revealed that the OS (median OS: NR vs. 14.7 months, p = 0.039) and PFS (median PFS: 18.5 vs. 5.5 months, p < 0.001) advantages of the IO+ChT group were also seen in the PD-L1 > 1% subgroup but were not seen in the PD-L1 < 1%, BM or KRAS mutation subgroups.
Conclusions: ICIs combined with ChT improved clinical outcomes over Beva combined with ChT as first-line therapy for adenocarcinoma patients without driver gene alterations, especially in patients with PD-L1 ≥ 1%.
Keywords: NSCLC; adenocarcinoma; bevacizumab; first-line therapy; immunotherapy.
© 2022 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.