Treatment-Related Adverse Events with PD-1 or PD-L1 Inhibitors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: to evaluate the risk of treatment-related adverse events of different severity and different system with PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors. Methods: randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that using PD-1/PD-L1 for cancer treatment were searched in the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2021. Adverse events data were extracted from clinical trials website or original article by two authors separately. Meta-analysis was used to determine risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of adverse events in PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors groups compared to that of control groups. Subgroup analyses were also performed. Results: a total of 5,807 studies were initially identified and after exclusion, 41 studies were included in meta-analysis. All the trials were international multicenter, randomized, phase II/III clinical trials, with the median follow-up of 27.5 months on average. Analysis of all grade adverse events showed that PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors treatment significantly increased the risk of immune-related adverse events, including pruritus (RR: 2.34, 95% CI: 1.85–2.96), rash (RR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.25–1.87), ALT elevation (RR 1.54, 95% CI 1.23–1.92), AST elevation (AST: RR 1.49, 95% CI 1.20–1.85), hepatitis (RR: 3.54, 95% CI: 1.96–6.38) and hypothyroid (RR: 5.29, 95% CI: 4.00–6.99) compared with that of control group. Besides that, PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors were associated with higher risk of adverse events related to respiratory system including cough (RR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.21–1.48), dyspnea (RR:1.23, 95% CI: 1.12–1.35) and chest pain (RR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.07–1.47) compared with that of control groups in our meta-analysis and the dyspnea was taken high risk both in all grade and grade 3 or higher (RR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.13–2.12). The risk of arthralgia was increased with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors (RR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.10–1.47). Although the risk of myalgia was similar with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors and control groups, under subgroup analysis, PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors decreased the risk of myalgia (RR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.45–0.70) compared with that of chemotherapy. Conclusions: our results provide clear evidence that the risk of treatment-related adverse events in PD-1 or PD-L1 varies widely in different system. In particular, when using PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors for oncology treatment, besides the common immune-related adverse events like pruritus, rash, hepatitis, and hypothyroid, the respiratory disorders and musculoskeletal disorders, such as cough, dyspnea, arthralgia, and myalgia, should also be taken into consideration.