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‹ Tue · 19 May 2026
Promising but preliminary

Basal cell subsets, as biomarker to predict the therapeutic effect of neoadjuvant therapy for esophageal carcinoma

Single-cell analysis identified specific immune cell types predicting which esophageal cancer patients responded to combination chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Single-cell RNA sequencing of 22 esophageal carcinoma patients receiving neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy identified basal cell subsets (Basal3/8 = pCR-associated; Basal7 = IPR-associated) as candidate biomarkers for treatment response prediction. The findings are exploratory and limited by small sample size but suggest a cellular basis for resistance stratification.

What the study was

Study design
Exploratory scRNA-seq study with clinical correlation
Population
Stage II-IV ESCA patients (n=22) treated with neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy (anti-PD-1 + platinum + nab-paclitaxel)
Sample size
22
Category
Genomics/Precision Medicine
Maturity
Exploratory
Journal
Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology

Why it surfaced

scRNA-seq with clinical correlation (n=22). Interesting mechanistic finding but small sample. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol.

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