SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1657282
The effect of Tislelizumab on Complete and Pathological Complete Response in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Rehabilitation Hospital, Beijing, China
- 2Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, China
- 3University of South Alabama, Mobile, United States
- 4University Hospital of Siena, Siena, Italy
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors have transformed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment, and while overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) are well-established, a comprehensive meta-analysis focusing on complete response (CR) and pathological complete response (pCR) with tislelizumab-based therapies in NSCLC is lacking. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. A thorough literature search was performed across PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science. We included both randomized controlled trials and observational studies of tislelizumab in NSCLC, focusing on extracting data for radiological complete response (CR, based on RECIST 1.1 criteria) and pathological complete response (pCR, defined as absence of residual invasive cancer in resected surgical specimens). Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Statistical analyses were performed using the 'meta' package in R. 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and odds ratios (ORs) were calculated for CR and pCR, and subgroup analyses were conducted. Results: 7 studies were enrolled in the meta-analysis. The results on pCR showed significant heterogeneity (I2 = 92.5%), with a random effects OR of 2.1103 (95% CI: 0.5195 to 8.5727). Subgroup analysis for pCR by disease type revealed a statistically significant difference between NSCLC and SCC only subgroups under the common effect model (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the pCR subgroup analysis by comparator drug showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001) between Pembrolizumab+Chemotherapy (OR 0.6968, 95% CI: 0.3803 to 1.2767) and Chemotherapy alone (OR 7.3123, 95% CI: 2.9204 to 18.3092). For CR, the meta-analysis demonstrated minimal heterogeneity (I2 = 0.0%), yielding a significant random effects OR of 2.6277 (95% CI: 1.2858 to 5.3699). Subgroup analysis for CR comparing tislelizumab plus chemotherapy to chemotherapy alone showed a significant advantage (OR 3.8690, 95% CI: 1.5423 to 9.7059). Conclusion: Tislelizumab combined with chemotherapy significantly improves CR rates in NSCLC compared to chemotherapy alone. While pCR data exhibit high heterogeneity, the findings highlight tislelizumab's role in achieving deep tumor responses.
Keywords: tislelizumab, NSCLC, complete response, Pathological complete response, Meta-analysis
Received: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Feng, Yan, Gao, Li, Sarah, Anna and Jiang. 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: Hongying Jiang, 6jhy@163.com
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.