Current Advances in Immunotherapy Management of Esophageal Cancer

Esophageal cancer is one of the most common and deadliest cancers worldwide. Rates of esophageal cancer worldwide have been steadily rising over the past decade due to higher incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Current therapies include surgical resection, chemotherapy, and limited targeted therapies. One obstacle to care is tumor cells' ability to evade immune surveillance, which can render certain therapeutics ineffective. Immunotherapy provides a new paradigm to cancer treatment, which has proven to be effective in evasive tumors. In recent years, PD-1/PD-L1 and CLTA-4 inhibitors have been used as frontline treatment and have shown to be extremely effective in the treatment of hard-to-treat tumors. Here, we aim to analyze the current literature regarding current therapeutics along with emerging techniques and future receptor targets for immunotherapy.