The emerging role of immunotherapy in colorectal cancer

Modulation of the interaction between the immune system and the tumor microenvironment has long been a target of cancer research, including colorectal cancer (CRC). Approaches explored to date include vaccines (autologous, peptide, dendritic cell, viral and bacterial), cytokine therapy, toll-like receptors (TLRs), autologous cell therapy and checkpoint inhibition. Until recently these approaches have been shown to have only modest efficacy in reducing tumor burden. However, significant breakthroughs have been made, with the use of checkpoint inhibitors targeting programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1), programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1), and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4). Immunotherapy now represents a possible avenue of curative treatment for those with chemo-otherwise refractory tumors. Success with this approach to immunotherapy has largely been confined to tumors with high mutational burdens such as melanoma, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and non-small cell lung cancer. This observation led to the exploration and successful use of checkpoint inhibitors in those with mismatch repair colorectal cancer which have a relatively high mutational burden. Ongoing trials are focused on further exploring the use of checkpoint inhibitors in addition to investigating the various combinations of immunotherapeutic drugs.