Systematic review and meta-analysis of Chinese herbal medicine as adjuvant treatment in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Introduction: Whether combining Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) and chemotherapy to treat patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has clinical benefits has yet to be confirmed. A meta-analysis was performed to address the efficacy of CHM in patients with advanced NSCLC.

Methods: Seven databases, including PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Embase, CINAHL Plus with Full Text (EBSCO), WANFANG DATA and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), were systematically searched for available literature through March10, 2020. A meta-analysis was conducted to generate combined risk ratios(RRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for objective response rates (ORRs), disease control rates (DCRs), and 1-year overall survival (OS) rates, and a random-effects model was used to estimate the standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95 % CI for quality or life (QOL), median survival time (mST) and progression-free survival (PFS).

Results: Reports of 14 randomized controlled trials involving 1451 patients were included in the analysis. Among them, 739 patients received CHMs, and 712 patients received chemotherapy alone. The ORR (RR = 1.37, 95 % CI [1.20-1.58], p =  .000), DCR (RR = 1.13, 95 % CI [1.07-1.21], p = 0.000), QOL (SMD = 1.47; 95 % CI [0.30-2.64]; p = 0.014), mST (SMD = 1.62; 95 % CI [1.15-2.08];p =  .000), and 1-year OS rate (RR = 1.24, 95 % CI [1.05-1.47], p = 0.01) were higher in patients with NSCLC who received CHMs than in those who received only chemotherapy. However, the CHM group was not found to have a higher median PFS (SMD = 1.27, 95 % CI [-0.22-2.78], p =  .095) than the chemotherapy group. Publication bias for ORR and DCR was indicated by funnel plot. For the efficacy endpoint, no evidence of a lack of robustness was found, according to the sensitivity analysis. These results must be interpreted with caution due to differences in the designs of the trials and patients' characteristics, and also due to the presence of missing data.

Conclusions: Our study found that higher ORR, DCR, QOL, mST and 1-year OS rate were associated with CHM use as an adjuvant to chemotherapy. Although these results require further confirmation, CHMs apparently have potential therapeutic value for patients with advanced NSCLC.