ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT07780721Updated Aug 21, 2026

Study of Adebrelimab Combined With Thymalfasin and Chemotherapy for Neoadjuvant Treatment of Esophageal Cancer

A Phase 2 interventional study of Adebrelimab and Thymalfasin in Esophageal Cancer, sponsored by The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-21.

Sponsored by The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
31
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a prospective, single-arm, multicenter clinical study conducted in China. Patients with pathologically or cytologically confirmed resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma will be enrolled to explore the efficacy and safety of adebrelimab combined with thymalfasin and chemotherapy as neoadjuvant therapy for resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The study consists of a screening period (from the signing of informed consent by subjects to the first study drug administration, no more than 21 days), a treatment period (including neoadjuvant therapy and surgery), and a follow-up period (comprising safety follow-up and survival follow-up). During neoadjuvant therapy, patients will receive 2 to 3 cycles of adebrelimab combined with thymalfasin and chemotherapy, followed by surgical resection.

02

Conditions studied

  • Esophageal Cancer

Keywords

  • Chemotherapy
  • Adebrelimab
  • neoadjuvant treatment
  • Esophageal Cancer
03

In context

Esophageal Neoplasms

1,873 studies on the registry are indexed under Esophageal Neoplasms; 501 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 31 is below the median of 58 across 1,347 interventional studies indexed under Esophageal Neoplasms.

Browse Esophageal Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University is the lead sponsor of 14 studies on the registry; 13 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Has signed the written form and voluntarily participates in this study;
  • Aged 18-80 years, male or female;
  • Histopathologically or confirmed esophageal squamous cell carcinoma;
  • Clinical stage: cT1b-cT2N+M0 or cT3-cT4a any N M0;
  • Has at least one (per Version 1.1: the measurable lesion has a longest diameter ≥10 mm on spiral CT scan, or a malignant lymph node with short-axis diameter ≥15 mm);
  • Expected to achieve R0 resection;
  • Performance Status (PS) 0-1 (see Appendix 1);
  • Has not received any prior anti-tumor therapy for esophageal cancer, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgery, etc.;
  • Plans to receive surgical resection after completion of therapy;
  • No to surgery.
  • Adequate organ function as specified below:

    1. Hematology laboratory values (No blood products, hematopoietic growth factors, leukopoietic agents, thrombopoietic agents or anti-anemia medications are permitted within 14 days prior to the first study drug administration):

      White blood cell count ≥ 3.0 × 10⁹/L ≥ 1.0 × 10⁹/L count ≥ 80 × 10⁹/L ≥ 90 g/L

    2. Serum chemistry:

      Total ≤ 1.5 × (ALT) ≤ 2.5 × ULN; Aspartate transaminase (AST) ≤ 2.5 × ULN Serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 × ULN, or ≥ 50 mL/min (calculated by the Cockcroft-Gault formula, see Appendix 2)

    3. Coagulation function:

(INR) ≤ 1.5 × ULN Activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) ≤ 1.5 × ULN

  • Female subjects of must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 72 hours prior to initiation of study drug, and must use effective (e.g., intrauterine device, oral contraceptives, condoms) throughout the study and for at least 3 months after the last dose of study drug. Male subjects with female partners of reproductive potential must use effective contraception throughout the study and for 3 months after the last dose.
  • Subjects with good compliance and willingness to complete follow-up visits.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Tumor invades adjacent organs of the esophageal lesion (major arteries or trachea);
  • Uncontrolled pleural effusion, pericardial effusion or ascites requiring repeated drainage;
  • Poor nutritional status with \< 18.5 kg/m². Subjects whose nutritional status is corrected by symptomatic nutritional support prior to enrollment may be considered for inclusion upon assessment by the principal investigator;
  • History of allergy to any component of monoclonal antibodies, adebrelimab, thymalfasin, paclitaxel, carboplatin or other platinum agents;
  • Previously received or currently receiving any of the following treatments:

    1. Any anti-tumor radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy or other anti-neoplastic agents;
    2. agents or systemic administered for immunosuppressive purposes (prednisone >10 mg/day or equivalent dose) within 2 weeks prior to the first study drug administration. Inhaled or topical steroids, and corticosteroid replacement therapy (prednisone >10 mg/day or equivalent dose) are permitted in the absence of active disease;
    3. administered within 4 weeks prior to the first study drug administration;
    4. Major surgery or severe trauma within 4 weeks prior to the first study drug administration.
  • Active autoimmune disease or history of autoimmune disease, including but not limited to: interstitial pneumonia, enteritis, hepatitis, hypophysitis, vasculitis, nephritis, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism (subjects receiving hormone replacement therapy may be enrolled). Subjects with psoriasis or childhood asthma/allergies completely resolved without any intervention in adulthood can be considered eligible; patients requiring medical intervention with bronchodilators are excluded.
  • History of immunodeficiency, including positive test, other acquired or congenital immunodeficiency diseases, history of solid organ transplantation or bone marrow transplantation;
  • Poorly controlled cardiac signs or diseases, including but not limited to: (1) Class II or higher heart failure; (2) unstable angina pectoris; (3) myocardial infarction within 1 year; (4) supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmia without clinical intervention or still poorly controlled after intervention.
  • Severe infection ( Grade >2) within 4 weeks before the first study drug administration, such as severe pneumonia requiring hospitalization, bacteremia, infectious complications, etc. Active pulmonary inflammation indicated by baseline chest imaging; subjects presenting with signs and symptoms of infection within 14 days before first dosing or requiring oral/intravenous antibiotics, except for prophylactic antibiotic use.
  • Active pulmonary tuberculosis confirmed by medical history or CT scan; history of active pulmonary tuberculosis within 1 year before enrollment; or history of active pulmonary tuberculosis more than 1 year previously without standardized treatment.
  • Hereditary bleeding diathesis or coagulation disorders. Clinically significant bleeding events or definite bleeding tendency within 3 months before enrollment, such as gastrointestinal bleeding, hemorrhagic gastric ulcer, baseline fecal occult blood ≥++.
  • Diagnosis of another malignant tumor within 5 years prior to the first study drug administration, except with low risk of or death (5-year survival rate >90%). Fully treated basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, carcinoma in situ of cervix, etc., may be considered for enrollment.
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding women.
  • Any other conditions judged by the investigator that may force premature study discontinuation, such as other severe diseases (including psychiatric disorders) requiring combined medication, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, family or social factors that may affect subject safety or compliance.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(29)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Measurable disease

The amount of disease can be tracked with a defined measurement, so the study can see whether it shrinks or grows. It might be a tumour measured on a scan or, in some blood cancers such as myeloma, a marker measured in blood or urine.

The criteria or the study team say which measurement counts — having no tumour visible on a scan does not by itself rule you out.

RECIST

The standard rules for measuring tumours on CT or MRI scans, to tell whether a cancer is shrinking, stable or growing during treatment.

“Measurable disease per RECIST 1.1” usually means at least one tumour 10 mm or more at its longest on a CT scan, or a lymph node 15 mm or more across its short axis.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Adjuvant and neoadjuvant

Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)

Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.

Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.

Reproductive potential

Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.

Criteria about it usually ask for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Live vaccines

Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Allogeneic and autologous transplant

Stem cell (bone marrow) transplants. Allogeneic uses cells from a donor; autologous uses your own cells, collected earlier and given back.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

CTCAE grade

The US National Cancer Institute’s scale of how severe an adverse event is — any unwanted medical event during a study, such as a symptom, an illness or an abnormal test result, whether or not a treatment caused it. Whether it did is judged separately.

1
Mild.
2
Moderate.
3
Severe.
4
Life-threatening.
5
Death due to the event.

“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
31 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Treatment Arm (Adebrelimab + Thymalfasin + Chemotherapy Neoadjuvant Regimen)

    All eligible patients receive neoadjuvant therapy for 2-3 cycles (3 weeks per cycle), followed by radical esophagectomy with lymph node dissection.

    Drug: Adebrelimab · Drug: Thymalfasin · Drug: Chemotherapy

Interventions

  • Adebrelimab: 1200 mg, intravenous infusion on Day 1, every 3 weeks (Q3W)

  • Thymalfasin: 1.6 mg, subcutaneous injection twice weekly for every 3-week cycle.

  • DrugChemotherapy

    Nab-paclitaxel: 260 mg/m², intravenous infusion on Day 1, every 3 weeks (Q3W); Cisplatin: 75 mg/m², intravenous infusion on Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3, every 3 weeks (Q3W); OR Carboplatin: AUC = 5-6, intravenous infusion on Day 1, every 3 weeks (Q3W).

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Pathologic Complete Response (pCR) Rate

    Defined as the proportion of subjects with Grade I pathological response per the pathological response evaluation criteria after neoadjuvant therapy, i.e., no residual viable tumor in the primary tumor lesion.

    Time frame: 2 weeks after surgery

Secondary outcomes

  1. R0 Resection Rate

    No residual viable tumor cells at the surgical resection margins

    Time frame: 2 weeks after surgery

  2. Major Pathologic Response (MPR)Rate

    Defined as the percentage of subjects with ≤10% residual viable tumor (Grade I and Grade II pathological response).

    Time frame: 2 weeks after surgery

  3. Disease-Free Survival(DFS)

    Defined as the time from the date of surgery (the first disease-free day) to local or distant disease recurrence, or death from any cause, whichever occurs first.

    Time frame: Defined as the time from the date of surgery (the first disease-free day) to local or distant disease recurrence, or death from any cause, whichever occurs first.Assessed for a maximum of 60 months.

  4. Objective Response Rate(ORR)

    Defined as the proportion of subjects achieving complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) based on imaging assessments performed from study enrollment to prior to surgery, evaluated per RECIST version 1.1 criteria.

    Time frame: At the end of Cycle 2-3 (each cycle is 21 days)

  5. Overall Survival(OS)

    Defined as the time from the date of first study drug administration to death from any cause.

    Time frame: From date of first study drug administration until death from any cause, assessed up to study completion。Assessed for a maximum of 60 months.

  6. Incidence and Grade of Adverse Events and Serious Adverse Events [Safety and Tolerability]

    Assessed according to NCI-CTCAE Version 5.0 criteria

    Time frame: From informed consent signature through 90 days after the last dose of adebrelimab

07

Study locations

1 site
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Start is estimated for Aug 2026; primary completion for Aug 2028, 23 months later.

Of 174 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Esophageal Neoplasms, half reached primary completion within 55 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 33 and three quarters within 85. This study's planned 23 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 198 studies reached it within 52 months; a quarter within 33 and three quarters within 78.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Aug 3, 2026
First posted
Aug 21, 2026
StartEst.
Aug 30, 2026
Primary completionEst.
Aug 1, 2028
CompletionEst.
Feb 1, 2029
Last update
Aug 21, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 21, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07780721
Lead sponsor
The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 21, 2026
Start date
Aug 30, 2026 (estimated)
Primary completion
Aug 1, 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Feb 1, 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 21, 2026

Study contacts

guozhong Huang, Bachelor's Degree
Contact
13959560301@163.com
13959560301

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Aug 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drugs tested here: Adebrelimab · Thymalfasin

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