Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of various immunotherapeutic agents and chemotherapy for unresected or metastatic melanomas.
Methods: We performed a network meta-analysis using a Bayesian statistical model to compare objective response rate (ORR) of various immunotherapies from 12 randomized controlled studies.
Results: The estimated ORRs of immunotherapy and chemotherapy were 0.224 and 0.108, respectively. The ORRs of immunotherapy in untreated and pretreated patients were 0.279 and 0.176, respectively. In network meta-analysis, the odds ratios for ORR of nivolumab (1 mg/kg)/ipilmumab (3 mg/kg), pembrolizumab 10 mg/kg and nivolumab 3 mg/kg were 8.54, 5.39 and 4.35, respectively, compared with chemotherapy alone.
Conclusion: Our data showed that various immunotherapies had higher ORRs rather than chemotherapy alone.
Keywords: immunotherapy; malignant melanoma; network meta-analysis; objective response rate; traditional meta-analysis.