ArticleJournal of neuro-oncology2026
Intratumoral serotonin and antidepressants in glioblastoma patients: narrowing the uncertainties.
Article in Journal of neuro-oncology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeAntidepressant use, which targets intracerebral serotonin metabolism, is common among glioblastoma patients. However, its interaction with tumor metabolism and survival remains unclear. We investigated the relationships between antidepressant use, intratumoral serotonin pathway metabolites, quality-of-life, and survival.
methodsWe analysed two complementary cohorts: a population-based cohort (n = 801) and a hospital-based biobank cohort (n = 153). In the population-based cohort, information about antidepressant use and survival were obtained from national registers. In the hospital-based cohort, intratumoral serotonin pathway metabolites were measured, and data on preoperative antidepressant use and quality-of-life were recorded. Linear and Cox regression models were used to investigate the association between antidepressant use, metabolites, quality-of-life and survival.
resultsIn the population-based cohort, antidepressant use was associated with poorer survival in adjusted analyses. However, use of fluoxetine or sertraline was associated with better survival compared with other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (HR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.44-0.88). In the hospital-based cohort, preoperative antidepressant use was associated with lower intratumoral serotonin levels and its downstream metabolite, 5-HIAA. Higher serotonin levels were associated with better preoperative quality-of-life, especially general health. Serotonin pathway metabolites were not clearly associated with survival.
conclusionsThese findings suggest that higher tumor tissue serotonin abundance was associated with better patient-reported well-being but not with survival in gliobastoma. Survival differed across SSRI exposure groups, although causal interpretation is limited by the observational design. These findings do not provide strong evidence against the continued clinical use of sertraline or fluoxetine in glioblastoma patients when indicated.
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.