On the Verge: Immunotherapy for Colorectal Carcinoma

Although overall survival from colorectal cancer (CRC) has steadily improved over the past decade, there is still work to be done. The gains associated with improved detection and treatment paradigms with chemotherapy and biologics appear to have reached their ceiling. Immune-based therapies have recently demonstrated clinical benefit in other cancers, including CRC with microsatellite instability (MSI), but patients with CRC without MSI have not yet derived benefit. This article reviews the history of CRC immunotherapy trials, the conceptual basis for why the activity of the immune system may be relevant to survival in CRC, and current efforts in CRC immunotherapy, and speculates about future efforts in this area based on experience with immunotherapy efforts in other classes of solid tumors.