Diarrhea With HER2-Targeted Agents in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

To fully investigate the diarrhea of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-targeted agents in cancer patients. The relevant studies of the randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) in cancer patients treated with HER2-targeted agents were retrieved, and the systematic evaluation was conducted. EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PubMed were searched for articles published until August 2018. Forty-two RCTs and 21 633 patients were included. The current meta-analysis suggested that the use of HER2-targeted agents significantly increases the risk of developing all-grade diarrhea (RR, 2.78; 95%CI, 2.37-3.25; P < .00001) and high-grade diarrhea (RR, 4.89; 95%CI, 3.09-7.75; P < .00001). The RRs of all-grade diarrhea and high-grade diarrhea varied significantly according to drug type, control group, and treatment regimen. The RR of all-grade diarrhea varied significantly according to tumor type. Afatinib and neratinib tended to associate with the highest risk of all-grade diarrhea and high-grade diarrhea, respectively. Trastuzumab was associated with the lowest risk of diarrhea. Breast cancer patients tended to have a higher risk of all-grade diarrhea than patients with nonbreast cancer when receiving a HER2-targeted agent. The available data suggested that the use of HER2-targeted agents is associated with a significantly increased risk of diarrhea in cancer patients.