Gender Differences in the Efficacy of Immunotherapy Drugs
According to a new study, researchers from the European Institute of Oncology in Italy and the University of Milan Bicocca conducted a meta-analysis of clinical trials involving more than 11,000 people. They found that women who received an immunological checkpoint inhibitor for advanced cancer had less benefit than men.
"Future studies should ensure that more women participate in clinical trials and focus on improving the efficacy of immunotherapy drugs for them, as well as possibly exploring different immunotherapy treatments for men and women" the researchers wrote in the study.
Immunological checkpoint inhibitors act by inhibiting the immune response and are known to improve the treatment outcome of patients with metastatic cancer. To see if immune checkpoint inhibitors have different effects on male and female patients, these researchers collected the results of 20 clinical trials. These clinical trials involve the administration of any of four drugs to patients with melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, urothelial carcinoma, head and neck cancer, and lung cancer. These four drugs are ipilimumab and tremelimumab as CTLA-4 inhibitors, and pemrolizumab and nivolumab as PD-1 inhibitors.
Although these immune checkpoint inhibitors improve the chances of survival in both male and female patients compared to patients who are not receiving treatment, male patients see greater benefits. The hazard ratio used to describe the risk of death was 0.86 in women who received immunological checkpoint inhibitors compared to women who did not receive immunological checkpoint inhibitors. However, the hazard ratio was 0.72 among male patients treated with immunological checkpoint inhibitors. This means that they have a reduced risk of death compared to male patients who are not treated with immunological checkpoint inhibitors.
"Future studies should ensure that more women participate in clinical trials and focus on improving the efficacy of immunotherapy drugs for them, as well as possibly exploring different immunotherapy treatments for men and women" the researchers wrote in the study.
Immunological checkpoint inhibitors act by inhibiting the immune response and are known to improve the treatment outcome of patients with metastatic cancer. To see if immune checkpoint inhibitors have different effects on male and female patients, these researchers collected the results of 20 clinical trials. These clinical trials involve the administration of any of four drugs to patients with melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, urothelial carcinoma, head and neck cancer, and lung cancer. These four drugs are ipilimumab and tremelimumab as CTLA-4 inhibitors, and pemrolizumab and nivolumab as PD-1 inhibitors.
Although these immune checkpoint inhibitors improve the chances of survival in both male and female patients compared to patients who are not receiving treatment, male patients see greater benefits. The hazard ratio used to describe the risk of death was 0.86 in women who received immunological checkpoint inhibitors compared to women who did not receive immunological checkpoint inhibitors. However, the hazard ratio was 0.72 among male patients treated with immunological checkpoint inhibitors. This means that they have a reduced risk of death compared to male patients who are not treated with immunological checkpoint inhibitors.
