Current Status of Checkpoint Inhibitors in the Treatment of Esophageal and Gastric Tumors – Overview of Studies

Despite recent advances in oncological treatment, gastric and esophageal cancer remain neoplastic diseases with poor prognoses. The only potential curative treatment is surgical resection with adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy/chemoradiotherapy. Targeted therapy of metastatic disease unfortunately does not provide better outcomes than for other tumor types, with the exception of trastuzumab and ramucirumab, which have relatively limited efficacy. Immunotherapy is a rapidly evolving treatment that has influenced the treatment guidelines for many tumors. In the present review, we summarize clinical trials of checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of gastric and esophageal cancer, including published results and the perspectives of ongoing trials.