SynthesisCancer medicine2024
Do corticosteroids affect immunotherapy efficacy in malignancy? - A systematic review.
Synthesis in Cancer medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Systemic treatment of immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced psoriasis: Inference-based guidance.Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV · 2025Pooled it
- Do corticosteroids affect immunotherapy efficacy in malignancy? - A systematic review.Cancer medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Article
- The brain-lung immunotherapy prognostic (BLIP) Score: a novel robust tool for prognostication in non-small cell lung cancer patients with brain metastases.British journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Immunological Drug-Drug Interactions in Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: Mechanisms, Clinical Evidence, and Artificial Intelligence.Current oncology reports · 2026Review
- First-in-human study of intravenous bispecific CTLA-4 × OX40 antibody (ATOR-1015) in advanced solid malignancies.ESMO open · 2026Article
- Antibiotic treatment indicates shorter survival in patients with immunotherapy for metastatic kidney cancer.Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) · 2026Article
- Immuno-oncologyDupilumab for bullous pemphigoid related to immune checkpoint inhibitors: a retrospective case series.The oncologist · 2025Article
- Efficacy and safety of routine corticosteroid premedication in enfortumab vedotin therapy for advanced urothelial carcinoma.International urology and nephrology · 2025Article
- Incidence and impact of immune combination therapies adverse events in advanced renal cell carcinoma patients.Immunotherapy · 2025Article
- Early-Stage Renal Cell Carcinoma: Who Needs Adjuvant Therapy?Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Evaluation of immune checkpoint inhibitors for colorectal cancer: A network meta‑analysis.Oncology letters · 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
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEarly studies indicated that corticosteroids may limit the survival benefit from immunotherapy. We conducted this systematic review to evaluate the effect corticosteroids have on immunotherapy in patients with malignancy, when adjusted for potentially confounding effects of corticosteroids given for palliative indications.
methodsThree electronic databases (PubMed, Embase and Medline) were searched on 1 February 2023. Studies that measured response or survival to immunotherapy in people receiving corticosteroids for non-cancer indications compared to either no corticosteroids or corticosteroids for cancer-related indications were included. Studies exclusively evaluating the effect of corticosteroids administered for immune-related adverse events (irAE) were excluded to avoid immortal time bias. Pooled odds and hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using a random effects model. Study heterogeneity was assessed using the I
resultsEight thousand four hundred and twenty-six titles were identified on our search. Eight studies met our inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. Administration of corticosteroids does not have a statistically significant effect on survival and response to immunotherapy when administered for non-cancer-related indications, with a pooled odds ratio for overall response rate 1.01 (95% CI 0.64-1.60); pooled hazard ratio (HR) for progression free survival 0.87 (95% CI 0.68-1.12); and pooled HR for overall survival 0.79 (95% CI 0.59-1.05).
conclusionThis systematic review indicates that administration of corticosteroids does not affect response to immunotherapy nor survival outcomes, when removing confounding palliative corticosteroid indications. These results are limited by the retrospective nature of the studies included, small sample sizes, lack of information about corticosteroid dosing and the inclusion of irAE in two of the studies which could bias the results.
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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.