Observational studyJournal of gastrointestinal cancer2026
Association of Probiotics with Effectiveness of Nivolumab or Pembrolizumab in Patients with Esophageal Cancer Taking Proton Pump Inhibitors: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.
Observational study in Journal of gastrointestinal cancer, 2026. 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeProton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are associated with reduced effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with cancer. This study clarifies whether probiotics could restore the reduced effectiveness of nivolumab or pembrolizumab in Japanese patients with advanced esophageal cancer (EC) receiving PPIs.
methodsThis multicenter retrospective observational study was conducted in five hospitals in Japan. The medical records of consecutive patients with advanced EC treated with nivolumab or pembrolizumab monotherapy between September 2017 and March 2024 were reviewed. Treatment efficacy and safety were compared for cases with and without concomitant probiotic use. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by Cox regression analysis.
resultsOf 106 patients included in this study, 14 were treated with probiotics. The median PFS was 2.3 months (95% CI, 1.3-9.8) in the probiotic group and 4.0 months (95% CI, 2.7-5.9) in the non-probiotic group (crude HR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.61-2.02). Similarly, the median OS was 4.9 months (95% CI, 1.6-17.7) and 8.1 months (95% CI, 6.3-13.9) in the probiotic and non-probiotic groups, respectively (crude HR, 1.50; 95% CI, 0.75-2.75). Similar trends were obtained from multivariable analyses of PFS (adjusted HR, 1.35; 95% CI, 0.64-2.86) and OS (adjusted HR, 3.01; 95% CI, 1.37-6.08). Adverse events were similar in both groups.
conclusionConcomitant probiotic use was not associated with improved survival outcomes; however, further large-scale studies are required to confirm these findings.
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Registered trials
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