Camrelizumab plus taxanes and cisplatin (TP) chemotherapy or TP chemotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract Background The addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) to platinum-based chemotherapy has shown promising antitumor activity in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (RM-NPC), who have poor survival outcomes. We therefore compared the efficacy and adverse events of taxanes-cisplatin (TP) chemotherapy and camrelizumab plus TP chemotherapy in patients with RM-NPC. Materials and methods In this retrospective study, we collected the medical records of 194 patients with RM-NPC between June 30, 2019, and December 31, 2021. The patients received camrelizumab plus TP chemotherapy or TP chemotherapy alone as first-line treatment at Wuhan Union Hospital Cancer Center. The survival outcomes, efficacy, and treatment-related adverse reactions were compared between the groups. Results The medical records of 194 patients with RM-NPC were reviewed. Compared with the TP group, patients in the camrelizumab plus TP group had a longer median progression-free survival (PFS) (13.4 vs. 9.5 months; hazard ratio (HR) 0.628 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.432–0.912]; P = 0.015) and overall survival (OS) (73.91% vs. 57.84%; HR 0.544 [95% CI 0.336–0.878]; P = 0.013). The results of multivariate analysis indicated that Epstein-Barr virus DNA (EBV DNA) load in plasma before treatment was an independent prognostic indicator associated with PFS (HR 0.488 [95% CI 0.336–0.709]; P < 0.001) and OS (HR 0.602 [95% CI 0.372–0.976]; P = 0.040) Conclusion Our study revealed that adding camrelizumab to taxanes-cisplatin chemotherapy showed a higher PFS and OS in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma and had a manageable safety profile.