Article Reviews Evidence on Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy for Colorectal Cancer

Orhan A, Justesen TF, Raskov H, et al. Introducing Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy for Colorectal Cancer: Advancing the Frontier. Annals of Surgery. 2024, in press.

Immunotherapy has improved outcomes for various malignancies. This article reviewed clinically useful evidence on the status of immunotherapy, particularly neoadjuvant immunotherapy, for patients with colorectal cancer.

The authors emphasized that discovery of mismatch repair deficiency has provided a means for identifying patients who have higher rates of positive responses to immunotherapy. Use of neoadjuvant therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors has been associated with increased complete or near-complete pathological responses, especially in patients with colon cancers; these lesions are more likely to respond to immunotherapy than rectal cancers.

Data presented in the article discuss the use of other markers such as PD1, KRAS, and BRAF as indicators of positive responses to immunotherapy. The authors also provided evidence supporting the use of neoadjuvant immunotherapy using other approaches such as tumor infiltrating lymphocytes for selected colon cancers.

Surgeons are encouraged to read the entire article contents.