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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1456193
This article is part of the Research Topic Checkpoint Immunotherapy: Reshaping the Landscape of Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment View all 4 articles

Adjuvant immunotherapy after neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy and esophagectomy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a real-world study

Provisionally accepted
Ji-Feng Feng Ji-Feng Feng Liang Wang Liang Wang Xun Yang Xun Yang Qi-Xun Chen Qi-Xun Chen *
  • Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The role of immunotherapy in the adjuvant setting seems promising in recent years. However, it is unknown if individuals with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who have received neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy (NICT) followed by radical surgery also require AIT.Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the data from patients who underwent NICT and radical surgery for ESCC between 2019 and 2020. To compare disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS), Kaplan-Meier survival curves were produced.Results: Among the 292 eligible patients, 215 cases with a mean age of 63.3 ± 6.8 years, including 190 (88.4%) men and 25 (11.6%) women, were finally recruited. The percentage of R0 resection was 98.3%. After NICT, 65 (30.2%) patients achieved pathological complete response. AIT was given to 78 (36.3%) patients following radical resection. For all patients, the 3-year DFS and OS were 62.3% and 74.0%, respectively. In terms of 3-year DFS (61.5% vs. 62.8%, P=0.984) or OS (76.9% vs. 72.3%, P=0.384), no statistically significant difference was found between patients with and without AIT. AIT significantly improved survival in patients with ypT+N+ (DFS: 23.9% vs. 38.5%, P=0.036; OS: 37.0% vs. 61.5%, P=0.010), but not in those with ypT0N0 or ypT+N0. It was found that AIT was related to both DFS (HR: 0.297; P<0.001) and OS (HR: 0.321; P=0.001) in patients with ypT+N+.In ypT+N+ ESCC patients, AIT after NICT followed by radical surgery reduces the recurrence and death, thereby improving the DFS and OS. Randomized controlled trials ought to be conducted to further assess this retrospective investigation.

    Keywords: Neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy, Adjuvant immunotherapy, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, Disease-Free Survival, overall survival

    Received: 28 Jun 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Feng, Wang, Yang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Qi-Xun Chen, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, China

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