Efficacy and safety of ipilimumab for treating advanced melanoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis

What is known and objective Clinical trials have demonstrated that the use of ipilimumab has led to considerable improvements in the clinical outcome in patients with advanced melanoma. We conducted a meta-analysis to systematically review the efficacy and safety of ipilimumab for advanced melanoma. Study design The relevant randomized controlled trials in melanoma patients treated with ipilimumab were retrieved, and the systematic evaluation was conducted. EMBASE, MEDLINE and PubMed were searched for articles published till May 2018. Results A total of 16 reports from 12 trials were available for the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis provided evidence that the combination of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitors and ipilimumab was more effective in improving progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and overall response rate (ORR) than either agent alone. However, ipilimumab was inferior to PD-1 inhibitors in improving PFS, OS and ORR. The combination of ipilimumab and anticancer therapy was superior to ipilimumab alone in improving ORR and was superior to anticancer therapy alone in improving OS, PFS and ORR. The adverse events associated with ipilimumab therapy were generally manageable. What is new and conclusion This is the largest and most up-to-date meta-analysis evaluating the efficacy and safety of ipilimumab in treating advanced melanoma. The ipilimumab-containing therapy was efficacious in treating advanced melanoma with a manageable safety profile.