Open AccessClinical outcomes in non-small-cell lung cancer patients receiving concurrent metformin and immune checkpoint inhibitors
Author(s) -
Muhammad Zubair Afzal,
Konstantin H. Dragnev,
Tayyaba Sarwar,
Keisuke Shirai
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
lung cancer management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1758-1974
pISSN - 1758-1966
DOI - 10.2217/lmt-2018-0016
Subject(s) - medicine , metformin , cohort , retrospective cohort study , lung cancer , oncology , survival rate , cancer , insulin
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.