Cancer Medicine (May 2018)

Strategy to targeting the immune resistance and novel therapy in colorectal cancer

  • Wang Gang,
  • Jun‐Jie Wang,
  • Rui Guan,
  • Sun Yan,
  • Feng Shi,
  • Jia‐Yan Zhang,
  • Zi‐Meng Li,
  • Jing Gao,
  • Xing‐Li Fu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.1386
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 5
pp. 1578 – 1603

Abstract

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Abstract Assessing the CRC subtypes that can predict the outcome of colorectal cancer (CRC) in patients with immunogenicity seems to be a promising strategy to develop new drugs that target the antitumoral immune response. In particular, the disinhibition of the antitumoral T‐cell response by immune checkpoint blockade has shown remarkable therapeutic promise for patients with mismatch repair (MMR) deficient CRC. In this review, the authors provide the update of the molecular features and immunogenicity of CRC, discuss the role of possible predictive biomarkers, illustrate the modern immunotherapeutic approaches, and introduce the most relevant ongoing preclinical study and clinical trials such as the use of the combination therapy with immunotherapy. Furthermore, this work is further to understand the complex interactions between the immune surveillance and develop resistance in tumor cells. As expected, if the promise of these developments is fulfilled, it could develop the effective therapeutic strategies and novel combinations to overcome immune resistance and enhance effector responses, which guide clinicians toward a more “personalized” treatment for advanced CRC patients.

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