Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42616124›Full record

ArticleJournal of cancer research and clinical oncology2026

Slug-positive circulating tumor cells in mesenchymal malignancies: what remains to validate.

Arman A Gholami, Dilfuza Mirzaeva, Sitora Soleyeva

Abstract readLetter
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of cancer research and clinical 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.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Arman A GholamiDepartment of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran. Abardecour@gmail.com.
Dilfuza MirzaevaDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tashkent State Medical University, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Sitora SoleyevaDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, Public Health, Healthcare Management, Faculty of Postgraduate Education, Samarkand State Medical University, Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells show promise as noninvasive response biomarkers, but their utility in mesenchymal malignancies requires further validation. This commentary examines He and colleagues' study proposing Slug-positive circulating tumor cells as predictors of neoadjuvant chemotherapy response. While the study provides valuable exploratory data, three considerations warrant careful interpretation: (1) Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors criteria versus histopathological assessment, the preferred sarcoma reference standard; (2) potential Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-enrichment limitations for low-EpCAM mesenchymal tumors; and (3) the need for larger validation cohorts. Further investigations incorporating sarcoma-specific endpoints, optimized circulating tumor cell platforms, and adequately powered studies are needed before clinical application.

Indexed as

Biomarkers, TumorNeoplastic Cells, CirculatingSarcomaSnail Family Transcription FactorsHumansNeoadjuvant TherapyBiomarkers, TumorSNAI1 protein, humanSnail Family Transcription FactorsCirculating tumor cellsEpCAMMesenchymal malignanciesNeoadjuvant chemotherapyRECISTSarcoma

Identifiers

PMID42616124
PMCPMC13490325

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

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.