# CheckMate 577: adjuvant nivolumab in resected oesophageal or gastro-oesophageal junction cancer

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-checkmate-577-nejm-2021/  
OnCo record `paper-checkmate-577-nejm-2021` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A year of nivolumab after chemoradiotherapy and surgery doubled disease-free survival in patients with oesophageal or junctional cancer who still had residual tumour at surgery, the first adjuvant therapy to work in this setting.

## Summary

Phase 3 placebo-controlled trial of 794 patients with resected stage II to III oesophageal or gastro-oesophageal junction cancer (both histologies) and residual pathological disease after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, randomised 2:1 to nivolumab or placebo for up to one year.

Median disease-free survival was 22.4 versus 11.0 months (hazard ratio 0.69), with benefit in both squamous and adenocarcinoma and regardless of PD-L1 expression; grade 3 to 4 treatment-related adverse events were 13 versus 6 percent.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-17
- Journal: New England Journal of Medicine
- Year: 2021
- DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2032125
- Authors: Kelly RJ, Ajani JA, Kuzdzal J, et al.
- Findings: Median disease-free survival 22.4 vs 11.0 months; hazard ratio 0.69.; Benefit in squamous (hazard ratio 0.61) and adenocarcinoma (0.75).
- What it means: Adjuvant nivolumab is standard for patients with residual disease after trimodality therapy for oesophageal cancer.
- Caveats: Overall survival data pending.; Applies only after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, not after perioperative chemotherapy.

## Sources

- N Engl J Med 2021: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2032125
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33789008/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/oesophageal-squamous-cell-carcinoma/)
- drugs: [Nivolumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/nivolumab/)
- trials: [CheckMate 577](https://onco.cc/trials/checkmate-577/)
- journals: [New England Journal of Medicine](https://onco.cc/journals/nejm/)

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