Efficacy and Safety of Concurrent PD-1 Inhibitor and Radiotherapy With Immunonutrition for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Summary

At present, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (cCRT) with platin-based dual-drug regimen is the standard treatment for inoperable, locally advanced esophageal cancer in patients with a good performance status. However, cCRT has substantial toxic effects, and a large number of patients with older age, malnutrition and other morbidities, cannot tolerate cCRT. Several phase II trials showed combining PD-1 inhibitor with definitive cCRT provided encouraging activity and acceptable toxicity in patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (LA-ESCC). Therefore, this single-arm, multicenter, phase II trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy plus radiotherapy with immunonutrition support in patients with LA-ESCC and positive PD-L1 expression who are intolerant to cCRT.

Timeline

Start

2024-03-14

Primary completion

2026-07-01

Completion

2026-12-01

Publications

• Background Park S, Oh D, Choi YL, Chi SA, Kim K, Ahn MJ, Sun JM. Durvalumab and tremelimumab with definitive chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer. 2022 Jun 1;128(11):2148-2158. doi: 10.1002/cncr.34176. Epub 2022 Mar 23.
• Background Zhu Y, Wen J, Li Q, Chen B, Zhao L, Liu S, Yang Y, Wang S, Lv Y, Li J, Zhang L, Hu Y, Liu M, Xi M. Toripalimab combined with definitive chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (EC-CRT-001): a single-arm, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2023 Apr;24(4):371-382. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(23)00060-8.
• Background Tachihara M, Tsujino K, Ishihara T, Hayashi H, Sato Y, Kurata T, Sugawara S, Shiraishi Y, Teraoka S, Azuma K, Daga H, Yamaguchi M, Kodaira T, Satouchi M, Shimokawa M, Yamamoto N, Nakagawa K; West Japan Oncology Group (WJOG). Durvalumab Plus Concurrent Radiotherapy for Treatment of Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: The DOLPHIN Phase 2 Nonrandomized Controlled Trial. JAMA Oncol. 2023 Nov 1;9(11):1505-1513. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.3309.
• Background Ohri N, Jolly S, Cooper BT, Kabarriti R, Bodner WR, Klein J, Guha C, Viswanathan S, Shum E, Sabari JK, Cheng H, Gucalp RA, Castellucci E, Qin A, Gadgeel SM, Halmos B. Selective Personalized RadioImmunotherapy for Locally Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Trial (SPRINT). J Clin Oncol. 2024 Feb 10;42(5):562-570. doi: 10.1200/JCO.23.00627. Epub 2023 Nov 21.
• Background Li C, Tan L, Liu X, Wang X, Zhou Z, Chen D, Feng Q, Liang J, Lv J, Wang X, Bi N, Deng L, Wang W, Zhang T, Ni W, Chang X, Han W, Gao L, Wang S, Xiao Z. Concurrent chemoradiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone for patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in the era of intensity modulated radiotherapy: a propensity score-matched analysis. Thorac Cancer. 2021 Jun;12(12):1831-1840. doi: 10.1111/1759-7714.13971. Epub 2021 May 5.
• Background Liu Y, Zheng Z, Li M, Zhang Y, Zhao F, Gong H, Lin H, Huang W, Chen X, Xu Z, Li X, Liu W, Cui Y, Zheng A, Li B. Comparison of concurrent chemoradiotherapy with radiotherapy alone for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell cancer in elderly patients: A randomized, multicenter, phase II clinical trial. Int J Cancer. 2022 Aug 15;151(4):607-615. doi: 10.1002/ijc.34030. Epub 2022 Apr 27.
• Background Ji Y, Du X, Zhu W, Yang Y, Ma J, Zhang L, Li J, Tao H, Xia J, Yang H, Huang J, Bao Y, Du D, Liu D, Wang X, Li C, Yang X, Zeng M, Liu Z, Zheng W, Pu J, Chen J, Hu W, Li P, Wang J, Xu Y, Zheng X, Chen J, Wang W, Tao G, Cai J, Zhao J, Zhu J, Jiang M, Yan Y, Xu G, Bu S, Song B, Xie K, Huang S, Zheng Y, Sheng L, Lai X, Chen Y, Cheng L, Hu X, Ji W, Fang M, Kong Y, Yu X, Li H, Li R, Shi L, Shen W, Zhu C, Lv J, Huang R, He H, Chen M. Efficacy of Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy With S-1 vs Radiotherapy Alone for Older Patients With Esophageal Cancer: A Multicenter Randomized Phase 3 Clinical Trial. JAMA Oncol. 2021 Oct 1;7(10):1459-1466. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2021.2705.
• Background Chen Y, Ye J, Zhu Z, Zhao W, Zhou J, Wu C, Tang H, Fan M, Li L, Lin Q, Xia Y, Li Y, Li J, Jia H, Lu S, Zhang Z, Zhao K. Comparing Paclitaxel Plus Fluorouracil Versus Cisplatin Plus Fluorouracil in Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Cancer: A Randomized, Multicenter, Phase III Clinical Trial. J Clin Oncol. 2019 Jul 10;37(20):1695-1703. doi: 10.1200/JCO.18.02122. Epub 2019 Mar 28.
• Background You J, Zhu S, Li J, Li J, Shen J, Zhao Y, Li X, Jia L, Li Q, Yang J, Wu Y, Shen W, Wu H, Wu X, Wang X, Ren Y, He J, Lin P, Zhu G, Shi A. High-Dose Versus Standard-Dose Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy With Concurrent Paclitaxel Plus Carboplatin for Patients With Thoracic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Randomized, Multicenter, Open-Label, Phase 3 Superiority Trial. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2023 Apr 1;115(5):1129-1137. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2022.11.006. Epub 2022 Nov 17.
• Yuan Y, Luo S, Wang X, Zheng Z, Qi Q, Wang Y, Chen M, Yang H, Gu P, Du Q, Wu X, Pan W, Xu Y, Wang J. Efficacy and safety of concurrent programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor and definitive radiotherapy with immunonutrition support in esophageal squamous cell cancer: a phase II multicenter clinical trial. Radiat Oncol. 2025 Apr 18;20(1):58. doi: 10.1186/s13014-025-02604-z.

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