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REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1440830
This article is part of the Research Topic Interplay Between Tumor Immunology and Tumor Microenvironment: In-Silico Investigations and Clinical Implications View all 3 articles

The Characteristics of Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Colorectal Cancer with Different MSI Status and Current Therapeutic Strategies

Provisionally accepted
Qingzhe Wang Qingzhe Wang MIn Yu MIn Yu Shuang Zhang Shuang Zhang *
  • Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a significant cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Despite advancements in surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the effectiveness of these conventional treatments is limited, particularly in advanced cases. Therefore, transition to novel treatment is urgently needed. Immunotherapy, especially immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has shown promise in improving outcomes for CRC patients. Notably, patients with deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) tumors often benefit from ICIs, while the majority of CRC cases, which exhibit proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) or microsatellite-stable (MSS) status, generally show resistance to this approach. It is assumed that MSI phenotype cause some changes in tumor microenvironment (TME), thus triggering anti-tumor immunity and leading to response to immunotherapy. Understanding these differences in the TME relative to MSI status is essential for developing more effective therapeutic strategies. This review provides an overview of the TME components in CRC and explores current approaches aimed at enhancing ICI efficacy in MSS CRC.

    Keywords: colorectal cancer, Tumor Microenvironment, immune checkpoint inhibitors, Deficient mismatch repair, proficient mismatch repair, Microsatellite instable, microsatellite stable

    Received: 30 May 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Yu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shuang Zhang, Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.