Research progress of immune checkpoint inhibitors for colorectal cancer

doi:10.3877/cma.j.issn.1674-0785.2021.09.013

Abstract

Abstract:

In recent ten years, immunotherapy for colorectal cancer has made great progress. Especially for colorectal cancer (CRC) with deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) / microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) phenotype, immunotherapy has sustained response and achieved significant clinical efficacy. However, most of the metastatic colorectal cancer patients are in the state of mismatch repair defect (pMMR) or microsatellite stable (MSS). These patients benefit less from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). With the extensive development of ICIS in colorectal cancer clinical trials, immunotherapy has gradually expanded the indications because of its definite efficacy. For patients with advanced colorectal cancer with dMMR/MSI-H, it has become the standard first-line treatment. For pMMR/MSS patients, ICIs also showed potential therapeutic effect through combined chemotherapy and targeted therapy. In this review, we mainly discuss the application of ICIs in colorectal cancer, explain the relationship between tumor and immune system, and summarize the immunological characteristics and classification of CRC, as well as the latest progress of ICIs in the treatment of CRC.

Key words: Colorectal neoplasms, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Immunal therapy, Biomarkers

Dongzhi Hu, Dalu Kong. Research progress of immune checkpoint inhibitors for colorectal cancer[J]. Chinese Journal of Clinicians(Electronic Edition), 2021, 15(09): 712-715.

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