Table 1.
Characteristics of included studies
| Study ID | Country | Study design | N a | Intervention | Treatment line | Co-interventions | Comparison | Conflicts of interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemotherapy | ||||||||
| Smeenk, 2005 [21] | Netherlands | OBS | 83 | 5-FU | Not specified/Not clear | RT | BSC | NR |
| Takasawa, 2006 [22] | Japan | OBS | 45 | Gem | Not specified/Not clear | Endoscopic procedures | BSC | NR |
| Tada, 2008 [23] | Japan | OBS | 167 | Gem | Not specified/Not clear | RT | BSC | NR |
| Fujino, 2008 [24] | Japan | OBS | 116 | Gem | Not specified/Not clear | Palliative pancreatectomy | Not specified/Not clear | NR |
| Nakai, 2008 [25] | Japan | OBS | 147 | Gem | Not specified/Not clear | Stent | BSC | NR |
| Mukherjee, 2008 [26] | UK | OBS | 294 | Gem, Gem-based | Not specified/Not clear | RT | Not specified/Not clear | NR |
| Yamagishi, 2010 [27] | Japan | OBS | 66 | Gem | First line *Some patients also received second-line CT | - | BSC | NR |
| Matsumoto, 2011 [28] | Japan | OBS | 68 | Gem | Not specified/Not clear | - | BSC | NR |
| Hiramoto, 2011 [29] | Japan | OBS b | 128 | Gem, S-1 | Not specified/Not clear | - | BSC | NR |
| Hentic, 2011 [30] | France | OBS | 38 | Gem, Oxa | Not specified/Not clear | - | BSC | NR |
| Aldoss, 2011 [31] | USA | OBS | 419 | Not specified / not clear | Not specified/Not clear | - | Not specified/Not clear | Nothing to disclose |
| Vijayvergia, 2015 [32] | USA | OBS | 579 | 5-FU, Gem, Iri, Platin, Taxanes | Not specified/Not clear | - | Not specified/Not clear | Nothing to disclose |
| Bednar, 2016 [33]c | USA | OBS | 107 | 5-FU, Gem, Iri, Oxa, Pac | Not specified/Not clear | - | Not specified/Not clear | Declaredd |
| Chakupurakal, 2017 [34] | Germany | OBS | 324 | 5-FU, Cap, Gem, Oxa, nab-Pac, FOLFIRINOX, FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, Leucovorin | Not specified/Not clear | RT | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Henze, 2018 [35] | Germany | OBS b | 100 | 5-Fu, Gem, Iri, Oxa, Pac | Not specified/Not clear | RT | Not specified/Not clear | Nothing to disclose |
| Terashima, 2018 [36] | Japan | OBS | 1085 | Not specified / not clear | Not specified/Not clear | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Kang, 2020 [37] | South Korea | OBS | 161 | 5-FU, Gem, Iri, Oxa, Leucovorin, Gem-based | Not specified/Not clear | Endoscopic procedures | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Iede, 2020 [38] | Japan | OBS | 39 | S-1 | Second line | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Fukahori, 2020 [39] | Japan | OBS b | 255 | Not specified / not clear | Not specified/Not clear | - | BSC | Declarede |
| Tralongo, 2020 [40] | USA | OBS b | 78 | Not specified / not clear | Not specified/Not clear | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Andren Sandberg, 1983 [41] | Sweden | Q-Exp | 47 | 5-FU, Vincristine, CCNU | First line | - | BSC | NR |
| Tsavaris, 1998 [42] | Greece | Q-Exp | 90 | 5-FU, Epirubicin, Leucovorin | Not specified/Not clear | - | BSC | NR |
| Jiang, 2017 [43] | China | Q-Exp | 47 | S-1 | First line | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| The Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group, 1979 [44] | USA | RCT | 89 | 5-FU | First line | RT | Not specified/Not clear | Nothing to disclose |
| Mallinson, 1980 [45] c | UK | RCT | 40 | 5-FU, Cincristine, Cyclophsphamide, Methotrexate | First line | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Frey, 1981 [46] | USA | RCT | 152 | 5-FU, CCNU | First line | Palliative surgery | Not specified/Not clear | Nothing to disclose |
| Palmer, 1994 [47] | UK | RCT | 46 | 5-FU, Adriamycin, Mitomycin | Not specified/Not clear | - | Not specified/Not clear | Nothing to disclose |
| Glimelius, 1996 [48] | Sweden | RCT | 53 | 5-FU, Leucovorin, Etoposide | First line | RT | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Takada, 1998 [49] | Japan | RCT | 83 | 5-FU, Doxorubicin, Mitomycin | Not specified/Not clear | Palliative surgery | Not specified/Not clear | Nothing to disclose |
| Huguier, 2001 [50] | France | RCT | 45 | 5-FU, Cisplatin, Leucovorin | First line | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Shinchi, 2002 [51] | Japan | RCT | 31 | 5-FU | Not specified/Not clear | RT | Not specified/Not clear | Nothing to disclose |
| Ciuleanu, 2009 [52] | Romania | RCT | 303 | Glufosfamide | Second line | - | BSC | Declarede |
| Xinopoulos, 2008 [53] c | Greece | RCT | 49 | Gem | First line | Stent | Not specified/Not clear | NR |
| Pelzer, 2011 [54] c | Germany | RCT | 46 | 5-FU, Oxa, Leucovorin | Second line | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Yip, 2006 [55] | Australia | SR | 9 of 50 | 5-FU, Adriamycin, Cisplatin, Doxo, Mitomycin, Cyclophosphamide, Leucovirin, Vincristine, Etoposide, Metrothexate, CCNU, BCNU, FAM | Not specified/Not clear | RT, palliative surgery | BSC | NR |
| Chin, 2018 [56] c | Australia | SR | 6 of 60 | 5-FU, Cisplatin, Doxo, Gem, Mitomycin, CCNU, Vincristine, Leucovorin, Etoposide | First line | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Betge, 2018 [57] | Germany | Protocol for Q-Exp | - | Gem, Gem + nab-Pac | First line | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Immunotherapy | ||||||||
| Asahara, 2013 [58] | Japan | Q-Exp | 112 | HLA-A24-restricted peptide vaccine derived from KIF20A | Not specified/Not clear | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Jiang, 2017 [43] | China | Q-Exp | 47 | DC-CIK | First line | - | BSC | Nothing to disclose |
| Oortgiesen, 2010 [59] | USA | RCT | 154 | PAS | Not specified/Not clear | - | Placebo | Declaredf |
| Gilliam, 2012 [60] c | UK | RCT | 154 | G17DT: antigastrin immunogen | First line | - | Placebo | Nothing to disclose |
| Targeted/biological therapy | ||||||||
| Henze, 2018 [35] | Germany | OBS b | 100 | Erlotinib | Not specified/Not clear | RT | Not specified/Not clear | Nothing to disclose |
| Reni, 2013 [61] c | Italy | RCT | 56 | Sunitinib | Not specified/Not clear | - | Not specified/Not clear | Declaredg |
| Propper, 2014 [62] c | UK | RCT | 207 | Erlotinib | Not specified/Not clear | - | Placebo | Declarede |
| Golan, 2019 [63] c | Israel | RCT | 154 | Olaparib | Not specified/Not clear | - | Placebo | Declarede |
OBS observational Study; Q-Exp quasi-experimental Study; RCT randomised clinical trial; SR systematic review; 5-FU fluorouracil; Gem gemcitabine; Oxa oxaliplatin; Iri irinotecan; Pac paclitaxel; Cap capecitabine; Doxo doxorubicin; DC-CIK dendritic cells and cytokine induced killer cells; PAS polyclonal antibody stimulator; RT radiotherapy; BSC best supportive care; NR not reported
aNumber of included participants for primary studies and number of included studies relevant to our clinical question/total of included studies for systematic reviews
bCongress abstract
cSee references for additional publications in online resource 2
dTwo authors reported consulting or advisory roles with Healthcare Companies
eAuthors are employees or have stocks on the Healthcare Company that funded the study
fAuthors reported financial interests in the study product
gFirst author received consulting fees from the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company