Introduction
tumor, malignant melanoma, cancer, skin cancer, Esophageal cancer, Cancer
TUMOR, MALIGNANT MELANOMA, CANCER, ANDERSEN, SKIN CANCER, ESOPHAGEAL CANCER, TUMOR GROWTH, CANCER
Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most lethal cancer types, with an overall 5-year survival of only 20% (American Cancer Society A sufficient immune response is necessary to combat cancer by enabling the detection, elimination, and prevention of cancer cells and providing immunological memory and adaptability. Enhancing immune responses against cancer has been a significant focus in cancer research. It has led to the development of immunotherapies that harness and strengthen the immune system's ability to fight cancer (Hanahan and Weinberg From preclinical studies, both ECT and CaEP have been shown to give rise to an anticancer immune response and to repress distant tumor growth outside of the treated area (Calvet et al. Despite these preclinical findings, there is still a lack of mechanistic understanding and what immunological effects can be expected in clinical trials. However, in one case report, a patient with disseminated malignant melanoma experienced a systemic response after only local treatment with ECT and CaEP (Falk 2017). This has led to the hypothesis that both the local and the systemic immune response can be further enhanced by combing ECT or CaEP with immunotherapeutic drugs. Several smaller studies have investigated ECT in combination with immunotherapy in patients with skin cancer with promising results (Andersen et al. We hypothesized that local treatment with CaEP in patients with EC could lead to favorable changes in the tumor microenvironment, which could be associated with systemic anti-tumor effects.