Meta-Analysis of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors vs. EXTREME for Head and Neck Cancer

Three randomized controlled trials from an initial pool of 356 studies were analyzed to compare first-line immune checkpoint inhibitors with the EXTREME regimen for recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Jiuli Zhou published this systematic review and meta-analysis on figshare in April 2026, reporting on overall survival, progression-free survival, and objective response rate. The analysis found median overall survival was similar across treatments, but a trend suggested a potential survival benefit for ICIs in patients with high PD-L1 expression.

Use Cases

• Compare overall survival outcomes between ICI monotherapy, dual ICIs, and the EXTREME regimen based on the reported median OS figures.
• Analyze progression-free survival and objective response rate trends in PD-L1 high expression populations based on the study findings.
• Validate or contextualize new clinical trial results for recurrent/metastatic HNSCC using this aggregated evidence base.
• Investigate the relationship between PD-L1 expression levels and immunotherapy efficacy suggested by the reported trends.

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific, high-impact clinical question comparing first-line ICIs to the EXTREME regimen for R/M HNSCC.
• Analysis is based on three randomized controlled trials, a study design considered the gold standard for efficacy.
• Reports specific numerical outcomes, including median OS of 11.5, 12.5, and 12.0 months for different treatments.
• Examines outcomes for both the total population and the PD-L1 high expression subgroup.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The underlying data is presented in document and image formats (PNG, DOCX, TIF), not directly machine-readable tabular data.

Provenance

Source

Jiuli Zhou via figshare.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of three randomized controlled trials.

Time Range

Temporal coverage of the included trials is not specified.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 11:50:44; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Spatial coverage of the included trials is not specified.