REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Gastric and Esophageal Cancers
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1611284
This article is part of the Research TopicReal-World Clinical and Translational Research in Gastrointestinal CancersView all 15 articles
Immunotherapy in the Perioperative Management of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Recent Developments
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Pharmacy, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
- 2Department of Thoracic Surgery，Peking University Cancer Hospital (Inner Mongolia Campus)/Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
- 3Department of Digestive Medicine, Zhungeerqi Central Hospital, Erdos, China
- 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 5Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Cancer Hospital, Hohhot, China
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Esophageal cancer ranks among the most prevalent malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), accounting for approximately 90% of all esophageal cancer (EC) cases, represents the dominant pathological subtype. For locally advanced ESCC at clinical stages II-IVA, surgery-based multidisciplinary treatment remains the primary management strategy. Despite concerted efforts, long-term outcomes for ESCC patients remain suboptimal. Recent years have witnessed significant advancements in immunotherapy, with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors demonstrating promising efficacy across various malignancies, particularly in ESCC. This review synthesizes the current landscape of perioperative immunotherapy for resectable ESCC, emphasizing the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the perioperative setting. Additionally, it highlights unresolved challenges in ongoing clinical research and provides insights into future directions for ESCC immunotherapy.
Keywords: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, perioperative immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, clinical studies, Mechanism
Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 05 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Yang, Yang, ZHANG, Li, Li and Zhu. 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:
Hui Li, Department of Digestive Medicine, Zhungeerqi Central Hospital, Erdos, China
Yong Li, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100021, Beijing Municipality, China
benben Zhu, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Cancer Hospital, Hohhot, China
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