Feng Y, Yu HW, Xu K. Letter to the Editor: Programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 inhibitors in the treatment of elderly patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(9): 120033 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.120033]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ke Xu, MD, Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, No. 278 Baoguang Street, Xindu District, Chengdu 610500, Sichuan Province, China. xuke@cmc.edu.cn
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Oncology
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letter
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Feng Y, Yu HW, Xu K. Letter to the Editor: Programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 inhibitors in the treatment of elderly patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(9): 120033 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.120033]
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Sep 15, 2026; 18(9): 120033 Published online Sep 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.120033
Letter to the Editor: Programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 inhibitors in the treatment of elderly patients with advanced pancreatic cancer
Yan Feng, Hai-Wei Yu, Ke Xu
Yan Feng, Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Panzhihua University, Panzhihua 61700, Sichuan Province, China
Hai-Wei Yu, Ke Xu, Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610500, Sichuan Province, China
Hai-Wei Yu, Department of Pharmacy, HIV/AIDS Clinical Treatment Center of Guangxi (Nanning) and The Fourth People’s Hospital of Nanning, Nanning 530000, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Ke Xu, School of clinical Medical, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610500, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Feng Y and Yu HW were responsible for data curation and writing original draft; Xu K was responsible for investigation, writing review and editing, validation, and supervision; all of the authors contributed to conceptualization and methodology, and have read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Ke Xu, MD, Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, No. 278 Baoguang Street, Xindu District, Chengdu 610500, Sichuan Province, China. xuke@cmc.edu.cn
Received: February 13, 2026 Revised: March 2, 2026 Accepted: April 13, 2026 Published online: September 15, 2026 Processing time: 194 Days and 4.8 Hours
Abstract
Advanced pancreatic cancer (PC) represents an aggressive gastrointestinal malignancy characterized by an extremely poor prognosis. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, especially programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) inhibitors, have revolutionized the treatment landscape for various solid tumors. Nevertheless, their clinical benefit in advanced PC remains modest. Given the growing prevalence of elderly patients, optimizing the use of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors for this vulnerable population has emerged as a critical research direction. A recent retrospective study by Lu et al published in the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology systematically evaluated multiple clinical parameters in elderly patients with advanced PC receiving anti-PD-1 inhibitors. Their study identified independent predictors of progression-free survival and overall survival, and assessed treatment-related safety. This letter aims to summarize key advancements in this field, highlight the study’s significant findings and limitations, and propose concrete strategies for future research, such as biomarker-driven patient stratification and geriatric-focused clinical trial design.
Core Tip: The recent study by Lu et al identified Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, prognostic nutritional index, and triglyceride levels as independent predictors for progression-free survival and overall survival in elderly patients with advanced pancreatic cancer receiving programmed death-1 inhibitors. While the results still need further verification, this work provides important clues in this underexplored research domain.
