Risk of hypertension with anti-VEGF monoclonal antibodies in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 105 phase II/III randomized controlled trials

Abstract

We performed a meta-analysis to fully investigate the hypertension of anti-VEGF mAbs in cancer patients. Databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) treated with anti-VEGF mAbs till January 2021. The relevant RCTs in cancer patients treated with anti-VEGF mAbs were retrieved and the systematic evaluation was conducted. One hundred and five RCTs and 65358 patients were included. Our study suggests that anti-VEGF mAbs significantly increased the risks of all-grade (RR, 3.22; 95%CI, 2.83-3.65; p < 0.00001; I²=71%) and high-grade (RR, 6.15; 95%CI, 5.58-6.78; p < 0.00001; I²=48%) hypertension in cancer patients. Those risks may be dependent on drug type. Icrucumab did not association with an increased risk of hypertension. The RR of hypertension did not vary significantly according to the type of cancer, line of therapy, and treatment duration. The available data suggested that the use of anti-VEGF mAbs were associated with a significantly increased risk of hypertension.

Keywords:

• Anti-VEGF monoclonal antibodies
• cancer
• hypertension
• meta-analysis
• systematic review
• RCTs

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest that is directly relevant to the content of this manuscript.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

For this type of study, formal consent is not required.