Stereotactic body radiation therapy and thymosin alpha-1-induced anti-tumor effects in heavily pretreated, metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients

Figures & data

Table 1. Baseline patient characteristics.

	N = 31	Percentage (%)
Age (years)
Median (range)	59 (46–71)
Sex
Female	3	9.7
Male	28	90.3
ECOG PS
0	19	61.3
1	12	38.7
Primary therapy
dCRT	17	54.8
Surgery+RT/CRT	9	29.0
nCRT+Surgery	5	16.2
PFS of first-line CT (months)
Median (range)	4.3 (2.1–10.7)
Number of metastic lesions
2	18	58.0
3	10	32.3
4–5	3	9.7
Location of metastic lesions
Chest	8	25.8
Abdomen	13	41.9
Pelvis	2	6.4
Other	3	9.7
≥2 location	5	16.2

Note: N: number of patients; ECOG PS: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance; dCRT: definitive chemoradiotherapy; nCRT: neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy; PFS: Progression-free survival; CT: chemotherapy.

Figure 1. Waterfall plot of changes in non-irradiated metastatic lesions.

Table 2. Acute treatment-related adverse events.

	CTCAE v4.0
Factor	Grade 0–1	Grade 2	Grade 3	Grade 4
Haematologic toxicity
Leucocytopenia	28	2	1	0
Neutropenia	29	1	1	0
Anemia	31	0	0	0
Thrombocytopaenia	30	1	0	0
Non-haematologic toxicity
Fatigue	20	8	3	0
Diarrhea	29	2	0	0
Pain	21	8	2	0
Nausea/Vomiting	30	1	0	0
Pneumonitis	24	6	1	0
Bilirubin increased	27	3	1	0
Abnormal liver function	24	4	2	0
Injection site reaction	30	1	0	0

Note: CTCAE: Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events.

Figure 2. (a) Overall survival and abscopal progression free survival in all the patients. (b) Overall survival according to abscopal progression free response.

Table 3. Comparison of blood parameters in abscopal control group and non-control group.

	Overall			BL			END
Factor	BL	END	P value	Controller	Non-controller	P value	Controller	Non-controller	P value
RBC	4.10 ± 0.82	3.70 ± 0.72	0.068	4.09 ± 0.94	4.10 ± 0.73	0.951	3.62 ± 0.82	3.77 ± 0.65	0.586
Hb	114.23 ± 18.53	111.39 ± 13.57	0.502	113.29 ± 17.33	115.00 ± 19.97	0.803	106.93 ± 11.90	115.06 ± 14.08	0.097
Plt	182.90 ± 90.75	177.16 ± 68.58	0.784	192.43 ± 92.45	175.06 ± 91.39	0.604	165.00 ± 76.26	187.18 ± 62.10	0.379
WBC	5.61 ± 1.61	5.43 ± 1.68	0.596	5.58 ± 1.58	5.63 ± 1.69	0.928	5.58 ± 1.31	5.31 ± 1.97	0.661
Lymphocyte	1.45 ± 0.66	1.60 ± 0.74	0.366	1.62 ± 0.64	1.31 ± 0.66	0.204	1.68 ± 0.59	1.52 ± 0.86	0.557
Monocyte	0.39 ± 0.18	0.34 ± 0.23	0.328	0.40 ± 0.20	0.39 ± 0.15	0.894	0.35 ± 0.13	0.32 ± 0.29	0.739
Neutrophil	3.51 ± 1.42	3.28 ± 1.08	0.391	3.28 ± 1.10	3.69 ± 1.64	0.426	3.29 ± 0.93	3.26 ± 1.22	0.934
PLR	167.76 ± 157.02	150.00 ± 111.95	0.510	142.24 ± 95.39	188.77 ± 194.42	0.421	104.24 ± 54.43	178.56 ± 135.80	0.051
NLR	3.14 ± 2.27	2.39 ± 1.20	0.106	2.41 ± 1.42	3.72 ± 2.68	0.105	2.09 ± 0.64	2.63 ± 1.50	0.224
NMR	10.34 ± 5.57	14.74 ± 15.01	0.120	10.00 ± 5.36	10.62 ± 5.88	0.763	11.06 ± 7.04	17.78 ± 18.98	0.221
LMR	4.37 ± 2.66	6.88 ± 6.30	0.043	4.75 ± 2.51	4.06 ± 2.81	0.480	5.61 ± 3.42	7.92 ± 7.89	0.288

Note: BL: Baseline; END: End of treatment; RBC: Red blood cell; Hb: Haemoglobin; Plt: Platelet; WBC: White blood cell; PLR: Platelet-Lymphocyte ratio; NLR: Neutrophil-Lymphocyte ratio; NMR: Neutrophil-Monocyte ratio; LMR: Lymphocyte-Monocyte ratio.

Figure 3. Changes of lymphocyte subtypes before and after treatment.