Efficacy of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a prospective cohort study with propensity-score matching

Frontiers in Immunology 2026 Open access

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Authors: Shifa Zhang, Anhao Hu, Jiuhe Sun, Wei Yutao, Jishan ZHANG, Haibo Cai, Gongchao Wang
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1711095
Cited by: 2
References: 23

Abstract

Background: This study compared the efficacy of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy (nICT) followed by surgery versus upfront surgery for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: In this prospective controlled trial (2020-2025), 623 stage II-IIIB ESCC patients were included; 192 received nICT (cisplatin, nab-paclitaxel, sintilimab) before surgery, and 431 underwent direct surgery. Propensity-score matching (PSM) and overlap weighting were used to adjust for baseline confounders. Results: After PSM (144 pairs), the nICT group showed significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS; HR = 0.31, p

Fields of Study & Subjects

Esophageal Cancer Research and Treatment Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers Immunotherapy and Immune Responses

Publication details

Journal / source
Frontiers in Immunology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Volume
16
Pages
1711095–1711095
Publication date
6 January 2026
Language
EN