Adding PD-1 Inhibitor to Chemoradiation Boosts Complete Response in Resectable Esophageal Cancer

A novel treatment approach combining neoadjuvant immunotherapy with chemoradiation showed promising results in patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), according to preliminary findings from the phase 3 SCIENCE trial.

Lead investigator Xuefeng Leng, MD, PhD, of Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, China, presented these results at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium 2025 in San Francisco.

The multicenter study showed that addition of the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor sintilimab to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy achieved a pathological complete response (pCR) rate of 60% compared with 47.3% with chemoradiotherapy alone in patients with resectable locally advanced ESCC, without increasing surgical risks.

Source: MEDspace