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Translational Therapeutics

Response to: Identifying optimal first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma with high PD-L1 expression: a matter of debate

British Journal of Cancer volume 127, pages 1383–1384 (2022)Cite this article

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We much appreciated the valuable comments and recognition by Dr. Rizzo [1] on our newly published article focusing on the comparison of immune checkpoint inhibitors alone (ICI) and ICI-combined chemotherapy (chemo-ICI) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), who had high programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression through network meta-analyses (NMA) [2]. Although novel treatment options has emerged, there was no consensus on selecting the best first-line treatment for NSCLC patients with high PD-L1 expression [3]. We performed Bayesian NMA and found that the chemo-ICI significantly improved overall response rate (ORR) and progression-free survival (PFS) compared to ICI, while no statistically significant overall survival (OS) differences were observed. Especially for non-squamous NSCLC patients, accepting PD-1 as the first-line treatment may be a relatively better option. Dr. Rizzo raises concerns regarding methodological issues related to NMA method that we would like to discuss below.

Bayesian NMA is a method that can simultaneously compare multiple treatments within a network by jointly considering both direct and indirect evidence under a Bayesian framework [4]. As Dr. Rizzo commented, the NMA was conducted under rigorous and well-accepted methods that synthesised all available evidence to acquire more precise treatment effects.

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Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

References

  1. Alessandro R. Identifying optimal first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma with high PD-L1 expression: a matter of debate. Br J Cancer (letter to the editor submitted).

  2. Wang Y, Han H, Zhang F, Lv T, Song Y, Liu H, et al. Immune checkpoint inhibitors alone vs immune checkpoint inhibitors-combined chemotherapy for NSCLC patients with high PD-L1 expression: a network meta-analysis. Br J Cancer. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-022-01832-4.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Yimin Wang, Hedong Han.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

    Yimin Wang & Yong Song

  2. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, China

    Hedong Han, Fang Zhang, Tangfeng Lv, Ping Zhan, Mingxiang Ye, Yong Song & Hongbing Liu

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  1. Yimin Wang
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  2. Hedong Han
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  3. Fang Zhang
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  7. Yong Song
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All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yong Song or Hongbing Liu.

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The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Ethical Review Committee of the Affiliated Jinling Hospital (DBNJ20219). Written informed consent for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.

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Wang, Y., Han, H., Zhang, F. et al. Response to: Identifying optimal first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma with high PD-L1 expression: a matter of debate. Br J Cancer 127, 1383–1384 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-022-01930-3

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