RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as oxaliplatin and fluorouracil, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Oxaliplatin and fluorouracil may make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy and may kill more tumor cells. Giving chemotherapy and radiation therapy before surgery may shrink the tumor so that it can be removed.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving oxaliplatin together with fluorouracil and radiation therapy works in treating patients who are undergoing surgery for stage II or stage III cancer of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction.

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Determine the pathologic complete response probability in patients with stage II or III adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction treated with neoadjuvant oxaliplatin, fluorouracil, and radiotherapy followed by definitive surgical resection.

Secondary

• Determine the frequency and severity of toxic effects associated with this neoadjuvant regimen in these patients.
• Determine the overall survival and progression-free survival of patients treated with this regimen.

Exploratory Analyses (subject to funding availability)

• Correlate, preliminarily, initial messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels of the genes for thymidylate synthase (TS), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γGT), γ-glutamyl cysteine (γ-GCS), DNA excision repair cross-complementing (ERCC-1), and xeroderma pigmentosum (XPA) with response and survival of patients treated with this regimen.
• Correlate, preliminarily, the mRNA levels of TS, γGT, γ-GCS, ERCC-1, and XPA before and after treatment with this regimen with survival of these patients.
• Correlate, preliminarily, specific genetic polymorphisms of TS and ERCC-1 with tumor response and overall survival of patients treated with this regimen.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

• Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy: Patients receive oxaliplatin IV over 2 hours on days 1, 15, and 29 and fluorouracil (5-FU) IV continuously on days 8-43. Beginning on day 8, patients also undergo radiotherapy once daily, 5 days a week, for 5 weeks.
• Surgery: Patients with stable disease or better undergo surgical resection 4-10 weeks after completion of chemoradiotherapy.
• Adjuvant chemotherapy: Beginning 4-10 weeks after surgery, patients receive chemotherapy comprising oxaliplatin IV over 2 hours on days 1, 15, and 29 and 5-FU IV continuously on days 1-36.

Treatment continues in the absence of unacceptable toxicity or disease progression.

Patients are followed every 3 months for 1 year and then every 6 months for 2 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 45-85 patients will be accrued for this study within 17-21 months.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed primary adenocarcinoma of the thoracic esophagus or gastroesophageal junction

  • No recurrent disease
  • Primary esophageal tumor at least 20 cm below the incisors (if < 26 cm below the incisors, a bronchoscopy must be performed and cytology must be negative)
  • Esophageal disease confined to esophagus and peri-esophageal soft tissue
  • Gastroesophageal junction disease extending ≤ 2 cm into the gastric cardia

• Clinical stage II or III disease by CT scan or MRI

  • If no esophageal mass is detected by these methods, esophageal endoscopic ultrasound is required to determine stage
  • Positron-emission tomography scan is required to confirm stage

• Measurable or non-measurable disease by x-ray, scanning, or physical examination

• No celiac axis nodes ≥ 1.5 cm

  • Measurable regional lymph nodes ≥ 1.5 cm at stations 2-10=N1 OR subdiaphragmatic lymph nodes at stations 15-19 ≤ 1.5 cm by CT scan or MRI allowed
  • Palpable supraclavicular lymph nodes must be free of metastatic esophageal cancer by biopsy

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• Over 18

Performance status

• Zubrod 0-2

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm^3
• White blood cell (WBC) count ≥ 3,000/mm^3
• Hemoglobin ≥ 10.0 g/dL (transfusion allowed)

Hepatic

• Albumin ≥ 3 g/dL
• Bilirubin normal

Renal

• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal

Cardiovascular

• No myocardial infarction or cerebrovascular event within the past 6 months

Pulmonary

• No active pneumonia or inflammatory lung infiltrate

Other

• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• No peripheral neuropathy ≥ grade 2
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• Not specified

Chemotherapy

• No prior chemotherapy for esophageal cancer

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• No prior radiotherapy for esophageal cancer
• No concurrent intensity-modulated radiotherapy

Surgery

• No prior surgical resection or attempted surgical resection of esophageal cancer