ArticleCommunications medicine2026
Pretreatment emotional distress and peripheral biomarkers predict immune checkpoint inhibitor response in people with advanced inoperable gastroesophageal cancer.
Article in Communications medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Chronic psychological stress and gastric cancer: bidirectional associations, biological mechanisms, and clinical implications-a narrative review.Journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2026Review
- Psychological distress as a putative host-state determinant of cancer immunotherapy response.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEmotional distress (ED) has been demonstrated to compromise immune responses against tumors; however, few clinical studies have explored its influence on the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in cancer patients, especially those with gastroesophageal cancer (GEC). Additionally, reliable biomarkers for predicting the response to immunotherapy remain elusive. This study was aimed at investigating whether ED affects the outcomes of immunotherapy in advanced GEC patients and identifying potential biomarkers predictive of immunotherapy efficacy.
methodsThis prospective observational cohort study enrolled 84 patients with advanced, treatment-naïve, and inoperable GEC. ED was evaluated at baseline using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale. The primary endpoint was Progression-Free Survival (PFS), while the secondary endpoint was Disease Control Rate (DCR).
resultsPatients with baseline ED exhibit significantly shorter median PFS (7.8 months vs. 14.0 months, HR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.35-4.97, P = 0.004) and a lower DCR (39.5% vs. 68.3%, OR = 3.21, 95% CI: 1.29-7.98, P = 0.012) compared to those without ED. Exploratory analyses further demonstrate that both pre- and post-treatment peripheral inflammatory markers (PIMs) are independently and jointly associated with survival outcomes in combination with ED.
conclusionsThis prospective study demonstrates that ED and elevated PIMs significantly impair ICI efficacy in advanced GEC. The synergistic interaction between ED and PIMs suggests underlying psycho-inflammatory mechanisms affecting treatment outcomes. These findings establish the clinical importance of integrating routine psychological assessment and PIMs monitoring in cancer patients receiving immunotherapy.
Identifiers
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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.