PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors combined with chemotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced biliary tract cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Hongye Geng, Chengyuan Lu, Shuling Wang, Lijuan Tian

Abstract readSystematic Review

In one paragraph

Synthesis in Frontiers in medicine, 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

4 authors.

Hongye Geng *School of Business Administration, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, China.

Chengyuan Lu *School of Business Administration, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, China.

Shuling Wang *School of Business Administration, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, China.

Lijuan TianSchool of Business Administration, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus chemotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC). Methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP databases were searched for RCTs and retrospective studies. Meta-analysis was performed using R 4.6.1 software with the meta (v8.5-0) and metafor (v5.0-1) packages. The full R code and datasets are provided in the supplementary material to ensure reproducibility. Results: Part I included 5 RCTs with 2,000 patients; of these, only 2 phase III RCTs (TOPAZ-1 and KEYNOTE-966, Conclusion: PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus chemotherapy significantly improves survival outcomes and objective response rate in advanced BTC without increasing severe adverse event risk. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO. Unique Identifier: CRD420261401842 URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?

Indexed as

biliary tract cancerchemotherapymeta-analysisPD-1/PD-L1 inhibitorsrandomized controlled trialretrospective study

Identifiers

PMID42755819

DOI10.3389/fmed.2026.1916331

PMCPMC13581943

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

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 Socratic graph.