Melanoma Brain Metastases: Immunotherapy or Targeted Therapy? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses

Background. Brain metastases are one of the leading causes of death in melanoma patients. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to look at the variables that affect melanoma patients’ intracranial treatment responses to immunotherapy and targeted therapy. Methods. A systematic search of PubMed and Scopus up to December 2023 was conducted to identify trials investigating treatment response of melanoma brain metastasis. This meta-analysis presents summary estimates (SEs) of treatment response and odd ratios (ORs) for the comparison between symptomatic and asymptomatic metastases. Generalised linear mixed models were used for the SE of the proportion of clinical responses and 95% CIs are reported. We investigated between-study heterogeneity using meta-regression. Results. We included 19 independent clinical trials for a total of 1074 patients with brain metastases. The SE of the overall response was 36% 95%CI [27%; 47%], I2 = 84%, similar to the SE for symptomatic metastases: SE = 29% 95%CI [16%; 47%], I2 = 80%. A significantly higher response of symptomatic metastases was observed between patients who had previously received immunotherapy compared to those who had not (47% vs. 9%, p-value = 0.001). The SE was greater for asymptomatic metastases (38% 95%CI [29%; 49%], I2 = 80%), and among these, patients that received the combo-immunotherapy importantly responded more than those who had received monotherapy (45% vs. 26.1%, p-value = 0.002). The major limit of our analysis is the absence of data about the specific intracranial response separately in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients in seven studies. Conclusions. This study shows the importance of starting immunotherapy as early as possible in asymptomatic patients. Randomised trials with greater statistical power are needed to find the best strategies for symptomatic and asymptomatic brain metastases.