Where We Stand With Immunotherapy in Colorectal Cancer: Deficient Mismatch Repair, Proficient Mismatch Repair, and Toxicity Management

Author(s):  
Michael J. Overman ◽  
Marc S. Ernstoff ◽  
Michael A. Morse

With the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals of pembrolizumab and nivolumab for refractory deficient mismatch repair metastatic colorectal cancer, immune checkpoint inhibitors have now entered into clinical care for gastrointestinal cancers. Extensive ongoing efforts are exploring additional combinations of therapy in both deficient and proficient mismatch repair colorectal cancer. This review will outline the current status of such efforts and discuss the critical aspects of recognition and management of immune-related toxicities from checkpoint inhibitors.

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-19
Author(s):  
Hidekazu Hirano ◽  
Atsuo Takashima ◽  
Tetsuya Hamaguchi ◽  
Dai Shida ◽  
Yukihide Kanemitsu ◽  
...  

Abstract Immunotherapy, especially immune checkpoint inhibitors, has revolutionized the standard-of-care of multiple types of tumors. For colorectal cancer, the clinical development of immune checkpoint inhibitors is mainly separated according to the status of microsatellite instability or mismatch repair in a tumor. High-level microsatellite instability/deficient mismatch repair metastatic colorectal cancer generally has a tumor microenvironment with infiltration of T cells, associated with a favorable response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, including pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1 inhibitor) and nivolumab (anti-PD-1 inhibitor) with or without ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4 inhibitor), have been integrated into the standard-of-care for high-level microsatellite instability/deficient mismatch repair metastatic colorectal cancer. Conversely, limited T-cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment of microsatellite stable/proficient mismatch repair metastatic colorectal cancer, which constitutes the majority of metastatic colorectal cancer, is assumed to be a major resistant mechanism to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Currently, clinical trials to improve the clinical activity of immune checkpoint inhibitors by immunomodulation are ongoing for metastatic colorectal cancer. Furthermore, immune checkpoint inhibitors are under development in neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant setting. Here, we review the existing clinical data with ongoing trials and discuss the future perspectives with a focus on the immunotherapy of colorectal cancer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Huyghe ◽  
Paméla Baldin ◽  
Marc Van den Eynde

Abstract Following initial success in melanoma and lung tumours, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are now well recognized as a major immunotherapy treatment modality for multiple types of solid cancers. In colorectal cancer (CRC), the small subset that is mismatch-repair-deficient and microsatellite-instability-high (dMMR/MSI-H) derive benefit from immunotherapy; however, the vast majority of patients with proficient MMR (pMMR) or with microsatellite stable (MSS) CRC do not. Immunoscore and the consensus molecular subtype classifications are promising biomarkers in predicting therapeutic efficacy in selected CRC. In pMRR/MSS CRC, biomarkers are also needed to understand the molecular mechanisms governing immune reactivity and to predict their relationship to treatment. The continuous development of such biomarkers would offer new perspectives and more personalized treatments by targeting oncological options, including ICIs, which modify the tumour-immune microenvironment. In this review, we focus on CRC and discuss the current status of ICIs, the role of biomarkers to predict response to immunotherapy, and the approaches being explored to render pMMR/MSS CRC more immunogenic through the use of combined therapies.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Marmorino ◽  
Alessandra Boccaccino ◽  
Marco Maria Germani ◽  
Alfredo Falcone ◽  
Chiara Cremolini

The introduction of checkpoint inhibitors provided remarkable achievements in several solid tumors but only 5% of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients, i.e., those with bearing microsatellite instable (MSI-high)/deficient DNA mismatch repair (dMMR) tumors, benefit from this approach. The favorable effect of immunotherapy in these patients has been postulated to be due to an increase in neoantigens due to their higher somatic mutational load, also associated with an abundant infiltration of immune cells in tumor microenvironment (TME). While in patients with dMMR tumors checkpoint inhibitors allow achieving durable response with dramatic survival improvement, current results in patients with microsatellite stable (MSS or MSI-low)/proficient DNA mismatch repair (pMMR) tumors are disappointing. These tumors show low mutational load and absence of “immune-competent” TME, and are intrinsically resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Modifying the interplay among cancer cells, TME and host immune system is the aim of multiple lines of research in order to enhance the immunogenicity of pMMR mCRC, and exploit immunotherapy also in this field. Here, we focus on the rationale behind ongoing clinical trials aiming at extending the efficacy of immunotherapy beyond the MSI-high/dMMR subgroup with particular regard to academic no-profit studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 342-348
Author(s):  
Jin Won Kim

Immuno-oncological treatment approaches, particularly with the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors such as antiprogrammed death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 antibody or anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 antibody, have become the standard treatment for gastrointestinal cancers. However, gastrointestinal cancers show an overall modest tumor response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Nevertheless, subgroups such as tumors that are DNA mismatch repair-deficient or have high microsatellite instability particularly benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors. Even in the first-line setting for colorectal cancer, the clinical efficacy of pembrolizumab, an anti–PD-1 antibody, was superior to that of chemotherapy. Recently, a combination of atezolizumab, an anti-programmed death ligand 1 antibody, and bevacizumab was approved as the first-line treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma, and was reported as superior to sorafenib. Nivolumab, an anti–PD-1 antibody that is added to chemotherapy as the first-line treatment for gastric cancer, resulted in longer survival compared with chemotherapy alone. Further studies are ongoing to investigate additional immune checkpoint inhibitors for other gastrointestinal cancers. This review aims to provide an overview of the results of clinical trials for immune checkpoint inhibitors in gastrointestinal cancers, including colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, and biliary tract cancer.


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