The efficacy and adverse events of mTOR inhibitors in lymphangioleiomyomatosis: systematic review and meta-analysis

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare lung disease and the mammalian target of the rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors has been used as an effective therapy. Here we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis with the aims to quantify the efficacy and safety of mTOR inhibitors in LAM patients. The following databases were searched for clinical trials regarding LAM patients treated with mTOR inhibitors until December 2017: Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library and OVID medicine. Random effect models were used for the quantitative analysis. Nine eligible studies were included in our systematic review, 7 of which were used for the meta-analysis. In LAM patients, mTOR inhibitors improved forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV ) and forced vital capacity (FVC) significantly, with the weighted mean difference (WMD) 0.15 L (95%CI: 0.08 to 0.22, P