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Review
. 2018 Feb;9(1):170-179.
doi: 10.21037/jgo.2017.06.10.

Immunotherapy in colorectal cancer: for the select few or all?

Sukeshi Patel Arora  1 , Devalingam Mahalingam  1
Affiliations
Review

Immunotherapy in colorectal cancer: for the select few or all?

Sukeshi Patel Arora et al. J Gastrointest Oncol. 2018 Feb.

Abstract

Over the past few years, the role of immunotherapy in colorectal cancer (CRC) has expanded, specifically in subsets of CRC with microsatellite instability (MSI) for which newer agents, such as programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors, are efficacious. While other immunotherapeutic agents are more immature in development, they have the potential to enhance the efficacy of PD-1 inhibitors and play a role in the treatment algorithm for all subsets of CRC patients. In this review, we will discuss immunotherapeutic agents in development in patients with CRC. We will review the later phase studies that elucidate the role of immunotherapy in CRC and provide hope for changing the treatment paradigm for CRC in the future.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer (CRC); checkpoint inhibition; immunotherapy; mismatch repair; programmed death-1 (PD-1).

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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