Immunotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer: Present status and new options

Abstract

Although no immunotherapeutic treatment is approved for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, promising results from clinical trials suggest that several immunotherapeutic strategies may prove efficacious and applicable to this group of patients. This review describes the immunogenicity of CRC and presents the most interesting strategies investigated so far: cancer vaccination including antigen-defined vaccination and dendritic cell vaccination, chemo-immunotherapy, and adoptive cell transfer. Future treatment options as well as the possibility of combining existing therapies will be discussed along with the challenges presented by tumor escape mechanisms.

Key Words::

• colorectal neoplasms
• immunotherapy
• cancer vaccines
• adoptive transfer

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.