ReviewCancers2022
Immunotherapy in Pancreatic Cancer: Why Do We Keep Failing? A Focus on Tumor Immune Microenvironment, Predictive Biomarkers and Treatment Outcomes.
Review in Cancers, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
80 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microbiota boost immunotherapy? A meta-analysis dives into fecal microbiota transplantation and immune checkpoint inhibitors.BMC medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Risk of Ophthalmotoxicity Associated with Antibody-Drug Conjugates: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Clinical drug investigation · 2025Pooled it
- Is ADC a rising star in solid tumor? An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.BMC cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Monocyte-related markers as predictors of immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy and immune-related adverse events: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Optimal early endpoint for second-line or subsequent immune checkpoint inhibitors in previously treated advanced solid cancers: a systematic review.BMC cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring risk factors for endocrine-related immune-related adverse events: Insights from meta-analysis and Mendelian randomization.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2024Pooled it
- Nimotuzumab Concurrent with Gemcitabine as First-Line Treatment of Locally Advanced or Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.BioMed research international · 2023Trial
- Photodynamic immune stimulation eradicates primary pigmented melanoma and induces long-lasting anti-tumor immunity.British journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Review
- Article
- Advances, challenges, and innovative strategies of CAR-T cell therapy in pancreatic cancer.Biomarker research · 2026Review
- Advances in deciphering intratumoral versus peritumoral heterogeneity of infiltrating lymphocytes in pancreatic cancer: a spatial perspective.Translational oncology · 2026Review
- A HRH1-YAP1 feedback loop drives pancreatic cancer progression and predicts therapeutic response.Oncology letters · 2026Article
- Breaking barriers: nano-boosted drug delivery systems in overcoming the defenses of pancreatic cancer.Molecular cancer · 2026Review
- Differences in collagen structure and organization in primary and metastatic pancreatic cancer and the effects of FOLFIRINOX treatment.Matrix biology plus · 2026Article
- Advanced Human Immune Cell-Organoid Co-Cultures for Functional Testing of Cancer Nanovaccines.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Neoadjuvant modified FOLFIRINOX plus nivolumab in borderline-resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: a pilot phase 1 trial.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Gamma-glutamyl transferase as a redox-gatekeeper biomarker for pancreatic cystic neoplasms: A concise roadmap from epidemiology to bedside.World journal of gastroenterology · 2026Article
- Pancreatic cancer immunotherapy biomarkers: from traditional markers to multimodal integration and dynamic monitoring.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Targeting Glutamine Metabolic Reprogramming in Pancreatic Cancer: Current Insights and Future Directions.Current cancer drug targets · 2026Review
20 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
12 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The advent of immunotherapy and targeted therapies has dramatically changed the outcomes of patients affected by many malignancies. Pancreatic cancer (PC) remains one the few tumors that is not treated with new generation therapies, as chemotherapy still represents the only effective therapeutic strategy in advanced-stage disease. Agents aiming to reactivate the host immune system against cancer cells, such as those targeting immune checkpoints, failed to demonstrate significant activity, despite the success of these treatments in other tumors. In many cases, the proportion of patients who derived benefits in early-phase trials was too small and unpredictable to justify larger studies. The population of PC patients with high microsatellite instability/mismatch repair deficiency is currently the only population that may benefit from immunotherapy; nevertheless, the prevalence of these alterations is too low to determine a real change in the treatment scenario of this tumor. The reasons for the unsuccess of immunotherapy may lie in the extremely peculiar tumor microenvironment, including distinctive immune composition and cross talk between different cells. These unique features may also explain why the biomarkers commonly used to predict immunotherapy efficacy in other tumors seem to be useless in PC. In the current paper, we provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review of immunotherapy in PC, from the analysis of the tumor immune microenvironment to immune biomarkers and treatment outcomes, with the aim to highlight that simply transferring the knowledge acquired on immunotherapy in other tumors might not be a successful strategy in patients affected by PC.
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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.