Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jul 2:16:1585048.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1585048. eCollection 2025.

Nimotuzumab plus chemotherapy and immunotherapy as first-line/neoadjuvant therapy for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Qi Wang #  1 , Zhi Cui #  1 , Muhong Deng #  1 , Guoqing Zhang #  2 , Fangfang Jing #  1 , Yue Ma #  3 , Fang Pang #  4 , Quanli Han  1
Affiliations

Nimotuzumab plus chemotherapy and immunotherapy as first-line/neoadjuvant therapy for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Qi Wang et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Background: Nimotuzumab has shown promising efficacy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, the efficacy and safety of nimotuzumab plus chemotherapy and immunotherapy as first-line/neoadjuvant therapy for patients with advanced ESCC remain unclear.

Methods: We performed a real world study of patients with advanced ESCC from December 2019 to April 2024. Patients were classified into resectable and unresectable group. Dosing regimen: nimotuzumab (400 mg, Q3W) plus chemotherapy (nab-paclitaxel: 240 mg/m2, paclitaxel liposome: 135-175 mg/m2, platinum: 200-400 mg/m2, Q3W) and immunotherapy (PD-1/PD-L1: 200-240 mg, Q3W). Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were primary endpoints, objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and safety were secondary endpoints.

Results: Totally 55 patients were included, 15 in resectable group and 40 in unresectable group. The median follow-up was 36.70 months and 34.00 months, respectively. In resectable group, ORR was 100.0%, DCR was 100.0%, R0 resection rate was 100.00%, 1-year OS was 84.00%, 2-year OS was 74.67% with 34.46 months median OS, 1-year PFS was 84.00%, and 2-year PFS was 37.33% with 21.68 months median PFS. In unresectable group, ORR was 70.0%, DCR was 90.0%, 1-year OS was 76.70%, 2-year OS was 51.29% with 28.06 months median OS, 1-year PFS was 56.64%, and 2-year PFS was 31.15% with 14.95 months median PFS. 14 (25.5%) patients developed Grade 3-5 adverse events (AEs) not related to nimotuzumab, no serious AEs or deaths occurred.

Conclusion: Our treatment combination for advanced ESCC showed a favorable survival profile, and safety was tolerable.

Keywords: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; immunotherapy; nimotuzumab; resectable; unresectable.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The flowchart.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The short-term efficacy.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The tumor response and treatment duration.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Kaplan-Meier curves of overall survival and progression-free survival in resectable group (A) and unresectable group (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Allan D. G. (2005). Nimotuzumab: evidence of clinical benefit without rash. Oncologist. 10 (9), 760–761. 10.1634/theoncologist.10-9-760 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ayati A., Moghimi S., Salarinejad S., Safavi M., Pouramiri B., Foroumadi A. (2020). A review on progression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors as an efficient approach in cancer targeted therapy. Bioorg. Chem. 99, 103811. 10.1016/j.bioorg.2020.103811 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bray F., Laversanne M., Sung H., Ferlay J., Siegel R. L., Soerjomataram I., et al. (2024). Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA. Cancer. J. Clin. 74 (3), 229–263. 10.3322/caac.21834 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chen S., Lin Y., Dong J., Song M., Lijuan S. (2024). Combining nimotuzumab with PD-L1 inhibitors and chemotherapy to treat esophageal cancer: a retrospective study. J. Clin. Oncol. 42 (16_Suppl l), e16072. 10.1200/jco.2024.42.16_suppl.e16072 - DOI
    1. Freites-Martinez A., Santana N., Arias-Santiago S., Viera A. (2021). Using the common terminology criteria for adverse events (CTCAE - Version 5.0) to evaluate the severity of adverse events of anticancer therapies. Actas. Sifiliogr. 112 (1), 90–92. 10.1016/j.ad.2019.05.009 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources