Immunotherapy

Cancer

Intensive care medicine

Internal medicine

Colorectal cancer

Oncology

Medicine

Cancer Treatment Reviews

Highlights•Colorectal cancer is a heterogeneous tumour with different genetic alterations.•Different patterns of immune competence are described in colorectal cancer.•Immunotherapy of cancer has made a revolution in the medical treatments in several cancer types.•Immune checkpoint inhibitors have therapeutic efficacy only in a subgroup of colorectal cancer.•Novel therapeutic strategies are needed to activate immune competence in colorectal cancer.AbstractA better knowledge of the complex interactions between cancer cells and the immune system has led to novel immunotherapy approaches. Treatment with selective anti-PD1, anti-PD-L1 and/or anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has been a revolution in the therapeutic scenario of several cancer types, with the highest clinical efficacy in melanoma and in lung cancer. Colorectal cancer is one of the tumours in which immunotherapy has been shown less effective. Whereas in deficient mismatch repair (MMR) or in highly microsatellite instable (MSI-H) metastatic col...

Immunotherapy of colorectal cancer: Challenges for therapeutic efficacy