Copyright
©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jan 15, 2026; 18(1): 113440
Published online Jan 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i1.113440
Published online Jan 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i1.113440
Efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors plus chemotherapy in esophageal cancer patients with liver metastases
En-Hui Dai, The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang Province, China
Shu-Hao Que, Department of Radiotherapy, Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
Huan Xu, Guo-Qiang Zhong, Department of Clinical Medicine, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056300, Hebei Province, China
Zhen Zhang, Department of Radiation Oncology (Maastro), GROW Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht 6229 HX, Netherlands
Zhen Zhang, Wei Feng, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310022, Zhejiang Province, China
Xu Liang, Department of Radiotherapy, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Yancheng Third People's Hospital, Yancheng 224002, Jiangsu Province, China
Shu-Wei Zhai, Department of Radiation Oncology, Changzhou Jintan First People's Hospital, Changzhou 213000, Jiangsu Province, China
Yue-Tong Li, Department of Oncology, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050000, Hebei Province, China
Jing-Jing Wang, Wei Feng, Department of Thoracic Radiotherapy, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou 310022, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Conception and design were performed by Feng W and Dai EH; administrative support was performed by Feng W; provision of study materials or patients were performed by Feng W; collection and assembly of data were performed by Dai EH; data analysis and interpretation were performed by Dai EH, Que SH, and Wang JJ; all authors were responsible for manuscript writing and final approval of manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82303672; Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission and Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine through the Targeted Project for Medical and Health Research, No. 2025ZL017; and China Primary Health Care Foundation, No. ZLMY20240311001ZJ.
Institutional review board statement: All procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines. The study was reviewed and approved by the Zhejiang Cancer Hospital Institutional Review Board, Approval No. IRB-2025-980(IIT).
Informed consent statement: The necessity of consent for this retrospective analysis was waived.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence this study.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wei Feng, MD, Department of Thoracic Radiotherapy, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, No. 1 Banshan East Road, Gongshu District, Hangzhou 310022, Zhejiang Province, China. fengwei@zjcc.org.cn
Received: August 27, 2025
Revised: October 11, 2025
Accepted: November 18, 2025
Published online: January 15, 2026
Processing time: 139 Days and 4.8 Hours
Revised: October 11, 2025
Accepted: November 18, 2025
Published online: January 15, 2026
Processing time: 139 Days and 4.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Although chemoimmunotherapy is the standard first-line treatment for metastatic esophageal cancer, its efficacy in the subgroup with liver metastases remains poorly characterized. This study demonstrated that chemoimmunotherapy significantly improved overall survival in this population, with a manageable safety profile. Key prognostic factors were identified, and the addition of local therapy to liver metastases may provide a rational approach to further optimize treatment outcomes.