Clinical outcomes in non-small-cell lung cancer patients receiving concurrent metformin and immune checkpoint inhibitors

AIM: To study the clinical benefits of concurrent metformin and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in non-small-cell lung cancer patients. MATERIALS & METHODS: This is a retrospective review of 50 non-small-cell lung cancer patients receiving ICIs with metformin (cohort A) or without metformin (cohort B). Patients were also stratified by ICIs as second-/third-line therapy. RESULTS: Overall response rate and disease control rate were higher in cohort A (41.1 vs 30.7%, p = 0.4 and 70.5 vs 61.6%, p = 0.5, respectively). Median overall survival and progression-free survival were also higher in cohort A (11.5 vs 7.6 months, p = 0.5 and 4.0 vs 3.0 months, p = 0.6, respectively). On subset analysis (second-/third-line ICIs), overall response rate, disease control rate, median overall survival, progression-free survival were also higher in cohort A. CONCLUSION: Despite the small-sample size, we observed improved clinical outcomes in patients who received ICIs in combination with metformin.