The New Era of Esophageal Cancer Treatment: Advances in Combination Therapy
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Therapy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 July 2026 | Viewed by 191
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Esophageal cancer, both esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), has historically had poor outcomes with traditional treatments. Standard chemotherapy alone often yields limited long-term benefit, so integrated strategies mark a new era in care. One of the most significant advances is using immune checkpoint inhibitors in combination with other therapies. Combination therapy leverages multiple treatment modalities simultaneously (e.g., immunotherapy + chemotherapy, targeted agents + immunotherapy, and chemoradiotherapy + immune agents) to improve survival, response rates, and quality of life. These combinations improve median overall survival and progression-free survival versus chemotherapy alone, establishing immunotherapy as a mainstay, especially for advanced or metastatic disease. Combining two immune checkpoint inhibitors targets different immune checkpoints and may produce synergistic antitumor activity. This has shown promising survival benefits. Clinical research shows that pairing immune checkpoint inhibitors with chemoradiotherapy—either before surgery (neoadjuvant) or concurrently—increases pathologic complete response rates and disease control in locally advanced ESCC. Tumor biomarkers like PD-L1 expression and other molecular signatures increasingly guide treatment decisions, enabling personalized combination regimens that maximize benefit. Combination therapies have changed the standard of care for many patients with advanced or metastatic esophageal cancer. These advances are rapidly transforming clinical practice and guiding more personalized, less toxic treatment pathways for patients with a historically aggressive disease.
Dr. Elena Mazza
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- esophageal cancer
- combination therapy
- immunotherapy
- targeted agents
- Pd-L1
- chemotherapy
- radiotherapy
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