Background: Compared with other subtypes, triple-negative breast cancer
(TNBC) is more aggressive and has a lower survival rate with chemotherapy being
the only acknowledged systemic treatment option. Recently, PD-1/PD-L1 (programmed
cell death-1 and programmed death-ligand 1) inhibitors have demonstrated survival
benefits in locally advanced or metastatic TNBC patients. However, the effects of
PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in neoadjuvant chemotherapy remain controversial.
Methods: Extensive literature searches were conducted in the PubMed,
Embase and Cochrane databases. A pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence
intervals (CI) was analyzed. Results: Seven randomized controlled trials
(N = 1707) were included. PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor chemotherapy group showed
pathological complete response (pCR) benefit of 59.0% vs. 40.4% (OR 1.98, 95%
CI 1.38–2.82, p
