The overall primary efficacy hypotheses are as follows:~In all eligible participants with locally advanced ESCC, pathologic complete response (pCR) rate is non-inferior with pembrolizumab plus SOC chemotherapy compared with historical benchmark.~The overall primary translational hypotheses are as follows:~Major hypoxia signals are significantly higher in baseline or post-treatment tumor samples from non-responders to pembrolizumab plus SOC chemotherapy, as compared to those samples from responders.
The purpose of this trial is to evaluate efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab plus standard of care (SOC) chemotherapy with cisplatin and paclitaxel as neoadjuvant treatment in participants with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and to explore treatment resistance mechanisms.