ArticleBritish journal of cancer2023
Preoperative chemoradiotherapy induces multiple pathways related to anti-tumour immunity in rectal cancer.
Article in British journal of cancer, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Short-Course Preoperative Radiation Therapy for Rectal Cancer: Toward a Curative Radio-Immuno-Biological Approach?Advances in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- In Situ Vaccination, Low-Dose Targeted Radionuclide Therapy, and Immune Checkpoint Inhibition Eradicate Poorly Immunogenic Metastatic Tumors in Murine Cancer Models.Cancer immunology research · 2026Article
- A Phase Ib Study of Chemoimmunotherapy with Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin and Pembrolizumab in Estrogen Receptor-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer.Cancer research communications · 2026Article
- Metabolism and Immunity-Adapted Radiotherapy (M.I.A.R): A Conceptual Framework for Overcoming the Therapeutic Plateau in Clinical Radiotherapy.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Review
- The central role of radiotherapy in remodeling the tumor immune microenvironment: mechanisms and therapeutic implications.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Interferon-Type-I Response and Autophagy Independently Regulate Radiation-Induced HLA-Class-I Molecule Expression in Lung Cancer.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Article
- [New possibilities of combining immunotherapy and radiotherapy in the definitive treatment of locally advanced cancer diseases].Magyar onkologia · 2025Review
- Lymphopenia is an adverse prognostic factor in rectal adenocarcinoma patients receiving long-course chemoradiotherapy.Radiation oncology journal · 2024Article
- Autophagy Blockage Up-Regulates HLA-Class-I Molecule Expression in Lung Cancer and Enhances Anti-PD-L1 Immunotherapy Efficacy.Cancers · 2024Article
- IFN-Type-I Response and Systemic Immunity in Rectal Adenocarcinoma Patients Treated with Conventional or Hypofractionated Neoadjuvant Radiotherapy.Biomolecules · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRectal cancer treated with preoperative radiotherapy (RT) provides an interesting model to study changes induced on cancer cell immuno-phenotype that could be exploited by immunotherapy interventions to improve prognosis. MATERIALS AND
methodsWe assessed the expression of HLA-class-I, β2-microglobulin, TAP1, PD-L1 and STING/IFNβ in preoperative biopsies and respective post-RT surgical specimens from patients with rectal cancer (n = 27). The effect of radiation was further investigated in colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines HT-29 and Caco-2.
resultsRectal carcinomas exhibited extensive loss of expression of HLA-Class-I related molecules, which was restored in post-irradiation surgical specimens (P < 0.0001). RT induced the expression of IFNβ and STING in cancer cells and tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (P < 0.0001). In in vitro experiments, irradiation with 4 Gy or 10 Gy induced the expression of HLA-class-I protein (P < 0.001). PD-L1 levels were transiently induced for two days (P < 0.001). cGAS, STING, IFNβ and the downstream genes (MX1, MX2, UBE2L6v2, IFI6v2 and IFI44) mRNA levels significantly increased after 3 × 8 Gy or 1 × 20 Gy irradiation (P < 0.001). TREX1 mRNA levels remained unaltered.
conclusionsRT induces the IFN-type-I pathway and the expression of HLA-class-I molecules on rectal carcinoma. The transient induction of PD-L1 expression suggests that long-course daily RT may sustain increased PD-L1 levels. Anti-PD-L1/PD-1 immunotherapy could block this immunosuppressive pathway.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.