Correction to: Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology (2025) 151:195 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-025-06245-3

In the original version of this article, the abstract was published incorrectly. The old incorrect version and the corrected version of the abstract are given below.

Incorrect version:

Background

Prostate cancer (PCa) has been considered an immunologically “cold tumor”. Indeed, in advanced PCa, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) or anti-tumor vaccines have shown poor results in phase II and phase III trials with the exception of sipuleucel-T that showed a modest survival benefit. Radiotherapy and Targeted radioisotopes, such as 223Radium or 177Lu-PSMA-617 monotherapy, contributed in prolonging the progression-free survival of PCa patients in second or third line. However, potential benefits of combination with immune therapies were inconstantly investigated and outcomes often were discordant.

Objective

Aim of this systematic review was to gather and analyze clinical evidence about benefits and risks of combining ionizing-radiation-based treatments with the main immunotherapies administed in clinical and experimental oncology for the setting of metastatic PCa.

Methods

We performed a systematic review according to the PRISMA-ScR criteria, investigating PubMed, Web of science, Embase and Medline databases from February 2000 to April 2024, searching for phase I to phase III clinical trials associating radiotherapy with immunotherapy (RT/IT) in metastatic PCa patients.

Conclusion

We observed that combination of Ipilimumab with stereotactic beam radiotherapy (SBRT) at the dose of 8 Gy performed about 12 days (range 2–21) before immunotherapy was liked with trials with a significative gain in progression-free survival. Furtherly, we described better objective responses when immunotherapies, were associated with SBRT than radionuclides An exception was 177Lu-PSMA-617, which showed promising synergic results after few cycles of standard doses, suggesting a possible enhancing of immune system, in particular when associated with anti-PD1 (pembrolizumab). Due to the few data reported in literature, both for radiotherapy and radionuclides, however, future randomized trials should confirm these data.

Corrected version:

Background

Prostate cancer (PCa) has been considered an immunologically “cold tumor.” Indeed, in advanced PCa, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and anti-tumor vaccines have shown poor results in phase II and III trials, with the exception of sipuleucel-T, which demonstrated a modest survival benefit. Radiotherapy and targeted radioisotopes—such as 223Radium and 177Lu-PSMA-617 monotherapy—have contributed to prolonging progression-free survival in PCa patients in second- or third-line settings. However, the potential benefits of combining these treatments with immunotherapies have been inconsistently investigated, and outcomes have often been conflicting.

Objective

The aim of this systematic review was to collect and analyze clinical evidence regarding the benefits and risks of combining ionizing radiation-based treatments with the main immunotherapies used in clinical and experimental oncology for metastatic PCa.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review according to PRISMA-ScR criteria, searching the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Medline databases from February 2000 to April 2024. We included phase I to phase III clinical trials that combined radiotherapy with immunotherapy (RT/IT) in patients with metastatic PCa.

Conclusion

We found that the combination of ipilimumab with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) at a dose of 8 Gy, administered approximately 12 days (range: 2–21) before immunotherapy, was associated with trials showing a significant improvement in progression-free survival. Additionally, we observed better objective responses when immunotherapies were combined with SBRT compared to radionuclides. An exception was 177Lu-PSMA-617, which demonstrated promising synergistic effects after a few cycles at standard doses, suggesting a potential enhancement of the immune response, particularly when combined with anti-PD1 therapy (pembrolizumab). However, due to the limited data available in the literature for both radiotherapy and radionuclides, future randomized trials are needed to confirm these findings.

In the original version of this article, the given and family names of the author group were incorrectly structured as Rosenfeld Roberto, Sganga Stefano, Badalamenti Marco, Mortellaro Sveva, Scorsetti Marta,Garrone Ornella, Iannantuono Giovanni Maria, Chandran Elias, Ghidini Michele and Franzese Ciro. The correct name should read as given name: Roberto and family name: Rosenfeld, given name: Stefano and family name: Sganga, given name: Marco and family name: Badalamenti, given name: Sveva and family name: Mortellaro, given name: Marta and family name: Scorsetti, given name: Ornella and family name: Garrone, given name: Giovanni Maria and family name: Iannantuono, given name: Elias and family name: Chandran, given name: Michele and family name: Ghidini, given name: Ciro and family name: Franzese.

The original article has been corrected.