Dr. Lenz on Next Steps With Immunotherapy in mCRC

Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, associate director for Adult Oncology and co-leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses next steps with immunotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Initial data in the relapsed/refractory setting indicate have shown that immunotherapy can induce an overall response rate of over 50% in patients who are microsatellite instability—high and DNA mismatch repair deficient. The question moving forward is if physicians can avoid giving cytotoxic chemotherapy to these patients and treat with immunotherapy alone, says Lenz.

Studies are now evaluating the efficacy of PD-1 inhibition alone or in combination with anti—CTLA-4 therapy in the frontline setting. Other studies are looking at checkpoint inhibition combined with targeted therapy or chemotherapy to see if benefit can be further extended.