Neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy plus thymalfasin in locally advanced gastric cancer: a prospective clinical trial
Xu H, Li F, Li B, et al. (2026). BMC Medicine.
Summary
A single-arm phase II trial of anti-PD-1 (serplulimab) plus S-1/oxaliplatin chemotherapy with 9 weeks of thymalfasin (thymosin alpha 1) before surgery in 30 patients. Pathological complete response was 30.0% and major pathological response 56.7%. Adverse events of any grade occurred in 93.3% and grade 3 or higher in 26.7%. Immune profiling showed CD8+ T-cell changes. With no comparison arm, the effect of thymalfasin itself cannot be separated; the authors call for larger randomised trials.