ArticleFrontiers in oncology2025
Plasma vascular endothelial growth factor levels are a potential therapy-response biomarker for pancreatic cancer.
Article in Frontiers in oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03307148 (A Phase 1B Study Repurposing ATRA as Stromal Targeting Agent Along With Gemcitabine and Nab-Paclitaxel for Pancreatic Cancer), which is not on this 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.
A Phase 1B Study Repurposing ATRA as Stromal Targeting Agent Along With Gemcitabine and Nab-Paclitaxel for Pancreatic Cancer (STAR_PAC)
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Targeting Tumour Heterogeneity through sequential timing of anti-hallmark combination therapies -a hypothesis for implementation.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Cytokines have long been studied for their role in the pathophysiology of cancer, though their role is varied and complex. Cytokines have been mainly developed as a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker using a single measurement from a cohort of patients. Dynamic changes in cytokines may inform us about the prognostic impact of therapy under investigation. Methods: We investigated retrospectively whether a panel of selected cytokines could be used as a potential biomarker to assess treatment response and predict the prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients (n=19) treated with combination of Gemcitabine, nab-Paclitaxel and all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), in the Phase I trial (STARPAC, NCT03307148). We measured cytokine levels in the plasma samples, from multiple cycle/visit time-points. Results: Of the six cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-8, IL-16, VEGF, IL-1RA and RANTES) assessed from the STARPAC trial, we propose that VEGF could serve as a potential biomarker for eventual therapy response, as early as the second chemotherapy cycle (of six). Discussion: VEGF as a potential therapy response biomarker will need to be tested in phase II randomized controlled trial.
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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.