Journal of Digestive Cancer Research

Korean Society of Gastrointestinal Cancer Research (대한소화기암연구학회)
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Recent Progress in Immunotherapy for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

전이성 대장암에 대한 면역치료의 최신 지견

  • Seong Jung Kim (Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Chosun University) ;
  • Jun Lee (Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Chosun University)
  • 김성중 (조선대학교 의과대학 내과학교실) ;
  • 이준 (조선대학교 의과대학 내과학교실)
  • Received : 2022.11.01
  • Accepted : 2022.11.09
  • Published : 2022.12.01
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Abstract

A breakthrough in immunotherapy has changed the outlook for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treatment as the immune surveillance evasion mechanism of tumor cells has been continuously elucidated. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), such as pembrolizumab, nivolumab, and ipilimumab, which block immune checkpoint receptors or ligands have been approved for the treatment of mismatch repair deficient (dMMR)/microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) mCRC based on numerous clinical studies. However, 50% of dMMR/MSI-H mCRC and most mismatch repair proficient/microsatellite stable mCRC remained unresponsive to current immunotherapy. Clinical trials on combination therapy that adds various treatments, such as target agents, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy to ICI, have been actively conducted to overcome this immunotherapy limitation. Further studies on safety and efficacy are needed although several trials presented promising data. Additionally, dMMR/MSI-H, tumor mutation burden, and programmed cell death ligand-1 expression have been studied as biomarkers for predicting the treatment response to immunotherapy, but the discovery and validation of more sensitively predictable biomarkers remained necessary. Thus, this study aimed to review recent studies on immunotherapy in mCRC, summarize the efficacy and limitation of immunotherapy, and describe the biomarkers that predict treatment response.

Keywords

References

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