title: Targeting Immune Checkpoints in Esophageal Cancer: A High Mutational Load Tumor.
abstract: Checkpoint inhibitors (eg, programmed cell death protein 1 [PD-1], programmed cell death ligand 1 [PD-L1], cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 [CTLA-4] antibodies) are changing how we understand cancer and provide a means to develop modern immunotherapies. An emergent notion relates success with checkpoint inhibitors with high mutational load tumors. There are few studies that examine checkpoint protein expression and relate these to clinical outcomes after the conventional treatment of patients with esophageal cancer, which has a high mutational load. The objective of this review is to summarize the literature that examines checkpoint expression and clinical outcomes, as well as propose an accelerated approach to introducing these therapies into the clinic to treat patients with esophageal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: dhuparr2@upmc.edu.
authors.forename: Rajeev
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dhupar
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Der Kraak
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pennathur
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schuchert
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Katie S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Nason
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Luketich
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, and Departments of Immunology and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Lion Biotechnologies, Tampa, Florida.
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Lotze
mesh_terms: D060890:B7-H1 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D060908:CTLA-4 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D061026:Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor / Q000378:metabolism; D047368:Tumor Burden
chemical_list: D060890:B7-H1 Antigen; D015415:Biomarkers; D060908:CTLA-4 Antigen; C556706:CTLA4 protein, human; D061026:Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor