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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.

Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1566939

This article is part of the Research Topic Precision Oncology in Checkpoint Immunotherapy: Leveraging Predictive Biomarkers for Personalized Treatment View all 13 articles

The Efficacy and Safety of PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitors in Combination with Chemotherapy as a First-line Treatment for Unresectable, Locally Advanced, HER2-Negative Gastric or Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Provisionally accepted
Wenji Pu Wenji Pu 1Shasha Li Shasha Li 1Jinliang Zhang Jinliang Zhang 1Jijie Huang Jijie Huang 1JISHI LI JISHI LI 1Yong Jiang Yong Jiang 1Zhi-yuan Xu Zhi-yuan Xu 1Fan Yi Fan Yi 1Yuling Lan Yuling Lan 1Qin Xiao Qin Xiao 2*Wenqi Chen Wenqi Chen 2*Jing Jin Jing Jin 2*
  • 1 Shenzhen Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
  • 2 National Cancer Center, Cancer Hospital Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) plus fluorouracil-based chemotherapy (Chemo) have been approved as an initial treatment strategy for metastatic or recurrent human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative gastric cancer (GC) or gastroesophageal junction cancer (GEJC). However, since programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) or its ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors have just recently been investigated for the treatment of unresectable GC/GEJC, there is ongoing debate regarding their safety and effectiveness for prespecified subgroups.The purpose of this research is to establish a foundation toward stratified decision-making by methodically assessing the merits and drawbacks of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors combined with chemo in the clinical utilization of advanced HER2-negative GC/GEJC according to certain prominent large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In addition, we limitedly explored the favorable short-term efficacy of PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibodies for the above-mentioned tumors.

    Keywords: advanced gastroesophageal cancer, Immune check points, PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, chemotherapy, Gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, Gastric adenocarcinoma, overall survival, Meta-analysis

    Received: 26 Jan 2025; Accepted: 11 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Pu, Li, Zhang, Huang, LI, Jiang, Xu, Yi, Lan, Xiao, Chen and Jin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Qin Xiao, National Cancer Center, Cancer Hospital Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen, China
    Wenqi Chen, National Cancer Center, Cancer Hospital Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen, China
    Jing Jin, National Cancer Center, Cancer Hospital Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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