Meta-Analysis of Thymosin Therapy for Esophageal Cancer from 18 RCTs

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials involving 1,272 patients, evaluating the efficacy and safety of thymosin combined with anticancer therapy for esophageal cancer. The study was authored by Tao Sun and uploaded to figshare in 2026. It includes statistical results for clinical outcomes, immune function markers, and adverse event rates.

Use Cases

• Compare treatment efficacy based on objective response rate and disease control rate results from the meta-analysis.
• Assess immune function impact based on reported changes in CD3+, CD4+, CD4+/CD8+ ratios, and NK cell levels.
• Evaluate treatment safety profiles based on reported reductions in gastrointestinal reactions, leukopenia, and radiation-related adverse events.
• Validate meta-analysis conclusions for clinical guideline development based on the included GRADE evidence quality assessments.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on 18 randomized controlled trials, providing a multi-study evidence base.
• Includes specific statistical results such as risk ratios and confidence intervals for multiple clinical and safety outcomes.
• The dataset is associated with a PROSPERO systematic review registration (CRD420261282381), indicating a predefined protocol.

Limitations

• The methodological quality of the included RCTs is described as limited, and evidence quality is graded as 'very low' to 'low'.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is a 1.5 MB DOCX file, which is a small document format not optimized for direct computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Tao Sun.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials identified from Chinese and English databases.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-29 06:07:40; freshness should be verified.