ABSTRACT
Tumor immune escape is one of the important reasons for tumor development.Immunological checkpoint molecules play a key role in tumor immune escape,and have attracted much attention in basic and clinical studies recently.Immune checkpoint molecules transmit inhibitory signal to anti-tumor immune cells and inhibit their activity through receptor/ligand interactions,thereby exerting anti-tumor function.Molecular expression of the immunological checkpoints of esophageal cancer is closely related to prognosis.At present,clinical trials of treating esophageal cancer using specific antibodies to block the immune checkpoint related signaling pathways are being widely carried out and show some initial effects.However,there are still some patients who are resistant to this treatment.As a result,it is urgent to find novel biomarkers that can accurately predict the therapeutic effects of antitumor immunotherapy for esophageal cancer.In this paper,the researches on esophageal cancer immunological checkpoints and its clinical application were reviewed from four aspects,including the immune checkpoint molecules and their antibodies,the relationship between the expression of esophageal cancer immunological checkpoints and the prognosis,the clinical trials of esophageal cancer immunotherapy and novel biomarkers for predicting the efficacy.It is expected to provide new ideas for further researches on the molecular mechanism of immune escape of esophageal cancer,immunotherapy of esophageal cancer and the combination of various treatments.