Clinical Outcomes And Adverse Events After First-Line Treatment In Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review And Network Meta-Analysis

Purpose: Four recent first-line clinical trials leveraging immune-oncology agents demonstrated an overall survival (OS) benefit relative to sunitinib. We aimed to provide formal comparisons among immune-oncology combinations in terms of OS, progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rates and treatment-related adverse events (AEs). Materials and Methods: PubMed (R) database was searched for studies indexed from January 1, 2016 through March 6, 2021. Only phase III randomized clinical trials with proven OS benefit relative to sunitinib were included: CheckMate 214 (nivolumab plus ipilimumab [N+I]), KEYNOTE-426 (pembrolizumab plus axitinib [P+A]), CheckMate 9ER (nivolumab plus cabozantinib [N+C]) and KEYNOTE-581 (lenvatinib plus permbrolizumab [L+P]). OS represented the primary outcome. PFS, objective response rate and AEs represented secondary outcomes. Results: Overall, 3,320 patients were included. Regarding OS, N+C ranked first, followed by L+P, P+A and N+I. Regarding PFS and objective response rate, L+P ranked first, followed by N+C, P+A and N+I. Finally, N+I ranked first with respect to lowest grade 3D AEs, followed by P+A, N+C and L+P. Differences in followup duration, risk grouping and nephrectomy rates distinguish the studies. Conclusions: N+C may provide the most favorable OS, L+P the most favorable PFS and ORRs, and N+I the lowest toxicity. Population differences may potentially undermine the generalizability and the robustness of findings of metastatic renal cell carcinoma.