Dr. Jennifer Wu on Immunotherapy in Mismatch Repair Deficient CRC

Jennifer Wu, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Perlmutter Cancer Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses the potential for immunotherapy in colorectal cancer with mismatch repair deficiency.

The mutational rate of colorectal cancer with mismatch repair deficiency is around 1,500, says Wu, while the mutational rate in non-deficient colorectal cancer is around 40. Immunotherapies seem to be most effective in cancers with high mutational loads.

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that all patients with colorectal cancer with mismatch repair deficiency that received immunotherapy had a response. Progression-free survival has not yet been reached. While this study was small, the results are very exciting, says Wu.