ArticleOncogene2022
Blockade of beta-adrenergic receptors reduces cancer growth and enhances the response to anti-CTLA4 therapy by modulating the tumor microenvironment.
Article in Oncogene, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 104 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
104 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 123 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beta-blocker use and survival outcomes in colorectal cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The Journal of international medical research · 2025Pooled it
- The Efficacy and Safety of Beta-blockers and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Targeted oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Endothelial Epac1 facilitates YAP/TAZ controlled melanoma growth and angiogenesis.Angiogenesis · 2026Article
- Targeting β-Adrenergic Signaling in Colorectal Cancer: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential of β-Blockers.Cancers · 2026Review
- Depression remodels tumor microenvironment to drive tumor progression: Bio-behavioural signalling pathways and clinical interventions.Journal of advanced research · 2026Review
- Therapeutic repurposing of old drugs to modulate the tumor immune microenvironment and enhance immunotherapy efficacy.Journal of pharmaceutical analysis · 2026Review
- Neuro-immune crosstalk in the tumor microenvironment: mechanisms and therapeutic implications for cancer immunotherapy.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Review
- β-Adrenergic receptors as immunomodulators in T cells: mechanisms of neuroimmune crosstalk and pathophysiological implications.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Review
- Impact of baseline medications on real-world overall survival in immune checkpoint inhibitor-treated patients with cancer in the RADIOHEAD cohort.Med (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Article
- Neuron-tumor interplay in colorectal cancer: from mechanisms of onset and progression to targeted therapies.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Review
- Disrupting sympathetic nerve-tumor crosstalk via biomimetic nanovesicles to augment chemotherapy efficacy under chronic stress.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Neuro-immune interactions in gastrointestinal oncology: Mechanisms, challenges, and therapeutic potential.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2026Review
- Unraveling the nexus in the neuro-neoplastic progression of colorectal cancer: Potential role of β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR).Journal of advanced research · 2026Review
- Review
- Review
- β-Adrenergic Signaling Contributes to Circadian and Lipid Dysregulation in Meibomian Glands During Chronic Psychological Stress.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
- Comparing the Molecular Pharmacological Properties of Existing β-Blockers to Determine the Theoretically Most "Ideal" Anti-Cancer β-Blocker.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2026Article
- Review
- Neuro-Immune Crosstalk: Molecular Mechanisms, Biological Functions, Diseases, and Therapeutic Targets.MedComm · 2026Review
44 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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 at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The development of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) marks an important breakthrough of cancer therapies in the past years. However, only a limited fraction of patients benefit from such treatments, prompting the search for immune modulating agents that can improve the therapeutic efficacy. The nonselective beta blocker, propranolol, which for decades has been prescribed for the treatment of cardiovascular conditions, has recently been used successfully to treat metastatic angiosarcoma. These results have led to an orphan drug designation by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas. The anti-tumor effects of propranolol are suggested to involve the reduction of cancer cell proliferation as well as angiogenesis. Here, we show that oral administration of propranolol delays tumor progression of MCA205 fibrosarcoma model and MC38 colon cancer model and increases the survival rate of tumor bearing mice. Propranolol works by reducing tumor angiogenesis and facilitating an anti-tumoral microenvironment with increased T cell infiltration and reduced infiltration of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Using T cell deficient mice, we demonstrate that the full anti-tumor effect of propranolol requires the presence of T cells. Flow cytometry-based analysis and RNA sequencing of FACS-sorted cells show that propranolol treatment leads to an upregulation of PD-L1 on tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) and changes in their chemokine expression profile. Lastly, we observe that the co-administration of propranolol significantly enhances the efficacy of anti-CTLA4 therapy. Our results identify propranolol as an immune modulating agent, which can improve immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies in soft tissue sarcoma patients and potentially in other cancers.
Identifiers
What Socratic 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 Socratic graph.