Genomic characteristics in neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: The response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) can vary, but there is still no biomarker that can identify the benefiting population. Therefore, biomarkers to predict the outcome of nCRT are needed, as well as elucidation of the mechanism of resistance therapy. We investigated differences of genomic characteristics between patients with a pathologic complete response (pCR) and those with little or no response (pathologic stable disease: pSD) before and after nCRT.