ReviewProstate cancer and prostatic diseases2021
How to turn up the heat on the cold immune microenvironment of metastatic prostate cancer.
Review in Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 170 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
170 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 213 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Association between BK polyomavirus and prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- The Safety and Efficacy of Anti-LAG-3 for Patients with Melanoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Study.Anti-cancer agents in medicinal chemistry · 2026Pooled it
- Phase 2 study of talabostat, a small molecule inhibitor of dipeptidyl peptidases (DPP), administered in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with small cell neuroendocrine prostate cancer.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Trial
- Programmed death-1 inhibition increases vaccine-induced T-cell infiltration in patients with prostate cancer.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2025Trial
- Evaluating Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancers with Deleterious CDK12 Alterations in the Phase 2 IMPACT Trial.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2024Trial
- Randomized Phase II Study Evaluating the Addition of Pembrolizumab to Radium-223 in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer.Cancer immunology research · 2024Trial
- Chrono-immunotherapy in genitourinary oncology: From emerging evidence to clinical translation (Review).Oncology letters · 2026Review
- Radium-223 decreases PD-L1 expression in bone metastases: A study with [European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026Article
- Association Between Biopsy PD-L1 Combined Positive Score and Pathological Upgrading at Radical Prostatectomy in Grade Group 1 Prostate Cancer: A Retrospective Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Human Group IIA Secreted Phospholipase AInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Review
- Targeting regulatory T cells in the prostate cancer microenvironment: From mechanisms to therapeutics (Review).Molecular medicine reports · 2026Review
- Engineered probioticScience advances · 2026Article
- Novel PSCA-Targeting Adapter Molecules for Late-Stage RevCAR-T Cell Therapy in Prostate Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Neoadjuvant intraprostatic immunotherapy for high-risk localized prostate cancer.Nature reviews. Urology · 2026Review
- CTLA-4: a promising immunosuppressive immune checkpoint in prostate cancer therapy.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Review
- Review
- Activation of tumor-specific CD8+ T cells prior to radiopharmaceutical therapy improves antitumor response.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Article
110 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAdvanced prostate cancer remains one of the most common and deadly cancers, despite advances in treatment options. Immunotherapy has provided little benefit to a majority of patients, largely due to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment that gives rise to inherently "cold tumors". In this review, we discuss the immunopathology of the prostate tumor microenvironment, strategies for treating prostate cancer with immunotherapies, and a perspective on potential approaches to enhancing the efficacy of immunotherapies.
methodsDatabases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane, were searched for articles relevant to the immunology of prostate cancer. We discuss the impact of different types of treatments on the immune system, and potential mechanisms through which prostate cancer evades the immune system.
resultsThe tumor microenvironment associated with prostate cancer is highly immunosuppressive due to (1) the function of regulatory T cells, tumor-associated macrophages, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), (2) the cytokine milieu secreted by tumor stromal cells and fibroblasts, and (3) the production of adenosine via prostatic acid phosphatase. Both adenosine and tumor growth factor beta (TGF-beta) serve as potent immunosuppressive molecules that could also represent potential therapeutic targets. While there have been many immunotherapy trials in prostate cancer, the majority of these trials have targeted a single immunosuppressive mechanism resulting in limited clinical efficacy. Future approaches will require the integration of improved patient selection as well as use of combination therapies to address multiple mechanisms of resistance.
conclusionProstate cancer inherently gives rise to multiple immunosuppressive mechanisms that have been difficult to overcome with any one immunotherapeutic approach. Enhancing the clinical activity of immunotherapies will require strategic combinations of multiple therapies to address the emerging mechanisms of tumor immune resistance.
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Registered trials
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.