New systemic treatment options for esophageal cancer

Esophageal cancer is an aggressive disease with poor prognosis. Until recently, treatment options for patients with advanced disease were limited to chemotherapy and HER-2-blockade in a small proportion of adenocarcinomas. New results of immunotherapy trials performed during the last years has changed the treatment landscape dramatically in gastroesophageal cancer. However, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma should be separated from gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas based on different efficacy results of chemoimmunotherapy. Better biomarkers are needed to determine which patients truly benefit from immunotherapy. This review focuses on current knowledge about systemic treatment of esophageal cancer.