Immunotherapy in Squamous Cell Cancer of the Esophagus

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this review, the authors have provided a collective information on the immunotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. They were focused mostly on the clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors in esophageal cancer. The following points should be added to improve the manuscript,

1. It is necessary to include basic information on how immunotherapy works against cancer?
2. The description on the types of immunotherapy should be added.
3. A section on the combination of immuno and targeted therapies in cancer should be included.
4. A table on the list of immunotherapeutic agents approved for esophageal cancer is needed.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Reviewer’s comment:

The review article “Immunotherapy in squamous cell cancer of the oesophagus” by Thuss-Patience and Stein encompasses almost all immune checkpoint inhibitor clinical trials in esophageal carcinoma.

This review article is broadly categorized into the first line and second line of palliative treatment protocol with PD/PD-L targeting immunotherapy currently in a clinical trial.

This systemic study is almost thoroughly documented and subsequently indexed. However, some minor points have yet to be addressed for further consideration in this journal.

Comments:

1. The author may consider incorporating a methodology section that should describe how the study has been conducted.
2. As this is a review of clinical trials, a systematic approach should be reflected in the manuscript.
3. The authors should modify the title of the review. Here only immune checkpoint clinical trials are mentioned. The author may consider “Immune checkpoint therapy in squamous cell cancer of the oesophagus” instead of Immunotherapy in squamous cell cancer of the oesophagus.
4. Please revise the whole manuscript for grammatical errors.  

Overall comment:

This review article needs a moderate change and suggested incorporation for further consideration in this journal.

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have addressed all the comments and the manuscript was improved by revision. However, there are spelling and grammatical errors in the manuscript. The authors should carefully check and correct them before reconsidering for publication. For example, in the example provided below, the highlighted words "expression" "immunohistochemically" and "reported" were not spelled correctly.

"The level of expression of PD-L1 is a predictive biomarker for the effectivity of the antibodies against PD-L1. PD-L1 levels of experession on cancer cells can be determined immunehistochemically and is repoted as the tumor proportion score TPS, on immune cells , reported as IC, and calculated for both sides as the combined positivity score (CPS)."