SynthesisJournal of neuro-oncology2025
Enhancing radiation sensitivity in malignant brain tumors with chloroquine: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of neuro-oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- 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
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeChloroquine (CQ) has been studied for over 50 years as a potential adjuvant to cancer therapy. However, clinical studies investigating CQ combined with radiotherapy for brain tumors have yielded conflicting results. We aimed to synthesize existing evidence on the safety and efficacy of adjuvant CQ with radiotherapy for treatment of high-grade gliomas (HGG) and brain metastases.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review using the PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases with no date restrictions. We included English-language clinical studies (n ≥ 5 patients) that evaluated the combination of CQ or its analogues with radiotherapy for HGG or brain metastases and reported overall survival (OS) outcomes. Pre-clinical studies and reviews were excluded.
resultsWe identified 13 eligible studies with 789 patients. Across both HGG and brain metastases, the median CQ dose was 250 mg daily, with whole-brain radiotherapy as the most common radiotherapy modality. For HGG, 3 out of 8 controlled trials reported significant benefit from treatment, with median survival ranging from 7.9 to 36.6 months. By comparison, only a single study of brain metastases found significantly improved progression-free survival relative to control. The safety profile of adjuvant CQ was generally favorable, with mild adverse effects reported in both patient populations.
conclusionsFor HGG, CQ combined with radiotherapy shows promise but modest, inconsistent survival benefits. For brain metastases, evidence is limited and less favorable, with no consistent benefit across tumor types or study designs. Adverse events are generally mild, though most studies used low CQ doses and long‑term safety remains uncertain.
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Registered trials
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