Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway is a promising treatment target for patients with breast cancer (BC). Our study aimed to evaluate the most effective and safe PI3K inhibitor for patients with BC, especially in PIK3CA mutation. METHODS: Electronics databases were systematically searched from their inception to June 2020 for published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing PI3K inhibitor therapy versus non-PI3K inhibitor therapy in patients with BC that mentioned or reported data of PIK3CA-mutated patient subgroups. Eligible RCTs had to report at least one of the following clinical outcomes: objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), or adverse events (AE). RESULTS: Nine eligible RCTs involving 3872 BC patients and four PI3K inhibitor therapy arms (i.e., alpelisib, buparlisib, pictilisib, and taselisib) were included. In evaluating ORR, beneficial significant results of PI3K inhibitors could be found in the PIK3CA mutated group (1.952, 1.012 to 3.766); analogous results could also be found in 6m-PFS (1.519, 1.144 to 2.018) and PFS from HR data (-0.346, -0.525 to -0.168). From pairwise and network meta-analyses, buparlisib showed the most favorable ORR, as it was significantly different from fulvestrant in the PIK3CA-mutated patient group (2.80, 1.56 to 5.03). Alpelisib ranked first in the assessment of 6m-PFS and was significantly different from fulvestrant in the PIK3CA-mutated group (2.33, 1.45 to 3.44). The above PI3K inhibitors had good safety with few serious AEs. PROSPERO registration CRD42020193932. CONCLUSION: The PI3K inhibitors alpelisib and buparlisib appear to have superior efficacy and safety therapeutic choices for patients with BC, especially in PIK3CA-mutated patients.