Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33541368›Full record

ReviewMolecular cancer2021

Chemotherapeutic and targeted agents can modulate the tumor microenvironment and increase the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockades.

Jun-Yan Li, Yu-Pei Chen, Ying-Qin Li, Na Liu, Jun Ma

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Molecular cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 86 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
86citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
8.6field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

86 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 136 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  8. Molecular origin, discovery, validation and application of neoantigens.Asian journal of pharmaceutical sciences · 2026
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  16. Multidrug Resistance: Are We Still Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Review
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26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Jun-Yan LiDepartment of Radiation Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
Yu-Pei ChenDepartment of Radiation Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
Ying-Qin LiDepartment of Radiation Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
Na LiuDepartment of Radiation Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
Jun MaDepartment of Radiation Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China. majun2@mail.sysu.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0002-1137-9349
Sun Yat-sen University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The development of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB)-based immunotherapy has dramatically changed methods of cancer treatment. This approach triggers a durable treatment response and prolongs patients' survival; however, not all patients can benefit. Accumulating evidence demonstrated that the efficacy of ICB is dependent on a robust antitumor immune response that is usually damaged in most tumors. Conventional chemotherapy and targeted therapy promote the antitumor immune response by increasing the immunogenicity of tumor cells, improving CD8+ T cell infiltration, or inhibiting immunosuppressive cells in the tumor microenvironment. Such immunomodulation provides a convincing rationale for the combination therapy of chemotherapeutics and ICBs, and both preclinical and clinical investigations have shown encouraging results. However, the optimal drug combinations, doses, timing, and sequence of administration, all of which affect the immunomodulatory effect of chemotherapeutics, as well as the benefit of combination therapy, are not yet determined. Future studies should focus on these issues and help to develop the optimal combination regimen for each cancer.

Indexed as

Molecular Targeted TherapyAnimalsAntineoplastic AgentsCD8-Positive T-LymphocytesClinical Decision-MakingDisease ManagementDisease SusceptibilityDrug SynergismHumansImmune Checkpoint InhibitorsImmunity, CellularImmunomodulationLymphocytes, Tumor-InfiltratingNeoplasmsTumor MicroenvironmentAntineoplastic AgentsImmune Checkpoint Inhibitorsantitumor immune responsechemotherapycombination therapyimmune checkpoint blockadetargeted therapytumor microenvironment

Identifiers

PMID33541368
PMCPMC7863268
OpenAlexW3126377118

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.