Objective  To systematically review the efficacy and safety of camrelizumab and apatinib in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer.

Methods  PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, and WanFang Data databases were electronically searched to collect clinical studies of carelizumab combined with apatinib (combination group) or it vs. carelizumab alone (single group) in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer from inception to June 14, 2024. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias in the included studies. Meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.4.1 and STATA 15 softwares.

Results  A total of 6 studies were included, 1 randomized controlled trial, 2 cohort studies, and 3 single-arm trials, involving 366 patients. The results of the Meta-analysis indicated that the objective response rate (ORR) (OR=2.77, 95%CI 1.60 to 4.81, P<0.001), and disease control rate (DCR) (OR=2.27, 95%CI 1.34 to 3.85, P=0.002) in the combination group were significantly higher than those of the single group. The results of the single-arm trial showed that after the treatment of camrelizumab combined with apatinib , the ORR and DCR of the patients were 28% (95%CI 0.04 to 0.52) and 65% (95%CI 0.37 to 0.92), respectively. The overall progression-free survival of the patients after the combined treatment was 5.66 months (95%CI 3.78 to 8.48). The incidences of leukopenia (OR=1.45, 95%CI 0.50 to 4.17, P=0.49), rash (OR=1.11, 95%CI 0.35 to 3.49, P=0.86), nausea and vomiting (OR=1.28, 95%CI 0.36 to 4.61, P=0.70) were not statistically significantly between the combination group and the single group.

Conclusion  Current evidence shows that carilizumab combined with apatinib has synergistic efficacy in treating triple-negative breast cancer, improves cellular immune function, and has a controllable safety profile. Due to the limitations of the number and quality of studies included, the above conclusion still needs to be verified by more high-quality studies.

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