Esophageal Cancer

Results from the phase 3 RATIONALE 302 trial led to the approval of tislelizumab for patients with unresectable or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Investigators note that early interventions such as nutritional support and prehabilitation require further investigation to increase both the quality of life and overall survival for patients with esophageal cancer.

Data from the phase 3 SKYSCRAPER-08 trial may support tiragolumab plus atezolizumab and chemotherapy as an alternative frontline treatment option for those with locally advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Neoadjuvant camrelizumab plus chemotherapy may hold promise as a standard of care in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, according to Yin Li, MD.

Sugemalimab is now approved for managing esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in China following results from the phase 3 GEMSTONE-304 study.

Investigators will continue to assess the efficacy and safety of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab and chemotherapy as frontline treatment for patients with metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in part 2 of the LEAP-014 study.

Data from the NeoRes II trial caution against routinely delaying surgery for more than 6 weeks after patients with resectable locally advanced esophageal cancer receive neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

Patients with complete lymph node response, partial lymph node response, or negative lymph node response were less likely to experience recurrence and increased survival in esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Daniel V. T. Catenacci, MD, and colleagues present findings from a study of circulating tumor DNA as a predictive biomarker for gastric and gastroesophageal cancer.

Investigators report that patients with advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma may have superior overall survival benefit following treatment with tislelizumab/chemotherapy vs placebo/chemotherapy.

Long-term survival benefit is seen in patients with treatment-naïve advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who were treated with nivolumab plus chemotherapy or ipilimumab.

Results from a randomized controlled trial highlighted that the TissueCypher Barrett’s Esophagus Test heightened accuracy for assessing progression risk in high-grade dysplasia and esophageal adenocarcinoma among patients with Barrett’s esophagus.

Patients with ERBB2-positive esophagogastric adenocarcinoma appeared to experience improved efficacy following treatment with a combination of trastuzumab and nivolumab plus leucovorin, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin vs historical data.

The FDA has granted approval to nivolumab plus ipilimumab and nivolumab plus chemotherapy for patients with unresectable advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Although patients with stage I esophageal cancer who received early surgery had similar survival vs delayed surgery, those with stage II and III disease experienced improved outcomes.

Investigators reported positive topline findings from the phase 3 RATIONALE 306 trial, assessing the first-line combination of tislelizumab and chemotherapy in previously untreated unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

The CheckMate 648 trial found that using a combination of nivolumab and chemotherapy or nivolumab plus ipilimumab vs chemotherapy alone improved survival in advanced esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma.

Treatment with nivolumab/ipilimumab and nivolumab/chemotherapy has demonstrated efficacy in unresectable advanced, recurrent, or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, with results from the CheckMate-648 trial leading to the acceptance of the regimens’ applications by the FDA.

Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy compared with the placebo plus chemotherapy demonstrated an improvement in overall survival and progression-free survival for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Data presented at 2021 ESMO show that nivolumab plus chemotherapy improves survival outcomes in certain patients with frontline gastrointestinal cancers, but not nivolumab plus ipilimumab.

Results from the phase 3 JUPITER06 trial demonstrated positive outcomes with toripalimab plus platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with treatment-naïve advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Results of 2 studies presented at 2021 ESMO demonstrate superior efficacy of sintilimab plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone in certain gastrointestinal cancers.

Preliminary data from the phase 1b GO30103 study indicated that the combination of tiragolumab plus atezolizumab may have promise in patients with heavily pretreated metastatic esophageal cancer.

Survival outcomes improved when nivolumab was added to either ipilimumab or chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone in advanced/metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Data from the Journal of the American College of Surgeons suggest patients 70 years or older with esophageal or esophagogastric junction cancers should be evaluated for optimal curative therapy.

The phase 3 RATIONALE 302 trial demonstrated that compared to chemotherapy, tislelizumab showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival in the intention-to-treat population of patients with advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Data presented at the 2021 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium found that health-related quality of life was steady and similar over the course of 18 weeks for patients receiving chemotherapy with or without pembrolizumab for esophageal cancer.

In addition to a concerning trend of increased rates of esophageal adenocarcinoma noted over the last 4 decades, this study also found that the proportion of those with advanced disease at presentation continues to rise for patients younger than age 50.

Researchers look at cost estimates stratified by stage, histology, and level of treatment.

Pembrolizumab showed promise in the second-line setting for patients with metastatic esophageal cancer and high PD-L1 expression.