Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Mar 27, 2024; 16(3): 921-931
Published online Mar 27, 2024. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v16.i3.921
Clinical efficacy and safety of erlotinib combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer: A meta-analysis
Xiao-Yan Liu, Hong-Nian Pan, Yue Yu
Xiao-Yan Liu, Yue Yu, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Xiao-Yan Liu, Yue Yu, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230001, Anhui Province, China
Xiao-Yan Liu, Hong-Nian Pan, Department of Gastroenterology, The Lu’an Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, The Lu’an People's Hospital, Lu’an 237000, Anhui Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Hong-Nian Pan and Yue Yu
Author contributions: Liu XY and Pan HN acquired, analyzed, and interpreted the data; drafted, revised, and approved the manuscript; Yu Y conceived and designed the study, and critically revised and approved the final manuscript. Pan HN and Yu Y contributed efforts of equal substance throughout the research process; and the choice of these researchers as co-corresponding authors acknowledges and respects this equal contribution, while recognizing the spirit of teamwork and collaboration of this study.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 31870993; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, No. WK9110000005; Anhui Provincial Health Research Project, No. AHWJ2022c020; Anhui Medical University Campus Level Research Fund, No. 2020xkj229; Lu'an City Science and Technology Plan Project, No. 2022Lakj009; and New Technology and Project of Lu'an People's Hospital, No. 2021xjs10.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yue Yu, MD, PhD, Chief Physician, Professor, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University; Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, No. 9 Lujiang Road, Hefei 230001, Anhui Province, China. yuyuemd@ustc.edu.cn
Received: December 19, 2023
Peer-review started: December 19, 2023
First decision: January 15, 2024
Revised: January 25, 2024
Accepted: February 7, 2024
Article in press: February 7, 2024
Published online: March 27, 2024
Processing time: 94 Days and 2 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most common malignant gastrointestinal tumors worldwide, and its incidence and mortality rates are increasing each year. The current mainstay of pancreatic cancer treatment is surgical resection, and early surgery has been shown to increase the likelihood of successful resection, with postoperative 5-year survival rates ranging from 70% to 85%. However, pancreatic tumors tend to infiltrate surrounding tissues, and early detection and metastasis prevention pose significant challenges. Erlotinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR antagonist) used as a molecularly targeted therapeutic drug that competitively binds to the catalytic site of the intracellular region of the tyrosine kinase receptor with adenosine triphosphate, inhibiting the phosphorylation reaction.

Research motivation

This study evaluated the clinical efficacy and safety of erlotinib monotherapy combined with chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer, with the goal of offering valuable insights into the clinical management of this disease.

Research objectives

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of erlotinib monotherapy combined with chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.

Research methods

Literature searches were conducted in the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases from inception to November 2023. A meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of erlotinib monotherapy in combination with chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.

Research results

Compared with chemotherapeutic treatment, erlotinib combined with chemotherapy significantly prolonged the progression-free survival time of pancreatic cancer patients. Meanwhile, the overall survival and disease control rate were not significantly favorable. In terms of safety, the erlotinib and chemotherapy combination was associated with a significantly higher risk of diarrhea and rash compared with single-agent chemotherapy. Moreover, the risk of vomiting, regurgitation/anorexia, and infection were not significant in either group.

Research conclusions

this study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of erlotinib monotherapy combined with chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer, with the goal of offering valuable insights into the clinical management of this disease.

Research perspectives

Given the above clinical and methodological heterogeneity and the small sample size used in the stratified analysis, the conclusions of this study need to be verified further in the clinical setting.