A propensity score-matched analysis of the impact of statin therapy on the outcomes of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer receiving anti-PD-1 monotherapy: a multicenter retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Many studies have recently reported the association of concomitant medications with the response and survival in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with cancer immunotherapy. However, the clinical impact of statin therapy on the outcome of cancer immunotherapy in patients with NSCLC is poorly understood. METHODS: In our database, we retrospectively identified and enrolled 390 patients with advanced or recurrent NSCLC who were treated with anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) monotherapy in clinical practice between January 2016 and December 2019 at 3 medical centers in Japan to examine the clinical impact of statin therapy on the survival of patients with NSCLC receiving anti-PD-1 monotherapy. A propensity score-matched analysis was conducted to minimize the bias arising from the patients’ backgrounds. RESULTS: The Kaplan–Meier curves of the propensity score-matched cohort showed that the overall survival (OS), but not the progression-free survival (PFS), was significantly longer in patients receiving statin therapy. However, a Cox regression analysis in the propensity score-matched cohort revealed that statin therapy was not an independent favorable prognostic factor, although it tended to be correlated with a favorable outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Statin therapy may be a combination tool for cancer immunotherapy in patients with NSCLC. These findings should be validated in further prospective studies with larger sample sizes. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09385-8.