Pembrolizumab (Anti-PD-1) Immunotherapy in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Systematic Review of the Current Literature

Abstract Introduction Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an infrequent and aggressive type of cancer that is difficult to treat, and standard therapies have shown limited effectiveness. There have been recent advances in the development of targeted therapies for malignant pleural mesothelioma, including immunotherapy with pembrolizumab. Methods This is a systematic review of the current role of pembrolizumab in the treatment of this disease. A systematic search was conducted through the databases and search engines. The eligible studies to be included were those that primarily focused on the outcomes of treating this disease with pembrolizumab, regardless of study design, line of therapy, mode of therapy, and ECOG performance status. Results After the initial and full-text screenings, 15 studies were reviewed. The number of cases was 454 with a mean age of 68.13 years, of which males (79.7%) were the predominant gender. Most of the cases were affected by epithelioid mesothelioma (76.7%). Pembrolizumab had been used as the first line of treatment in 62 (13.7%) cases. In 92.73% of cases, the therapy mode was pembrolizumab monotherapy. A total of 68 different adverse events were recorded. The most commonly associated adverse events were fatigue (14.8%), pruritis/rash (13.7%), and diarrhea (9.7%). Two patients died due to adverse events. The overall objective response was 17.8%, stable disease was 35.7%, progression-free survival was about 47.6% with a mean of 4.73 months, and 117 cases (25.8%) could reach treatment-related survival. Conclusion Pembrolizumab can serve as a viable alternative in the management of malignant pleural mesothelioma, offering satisfactory outcomes and acceptable safety profiles.