Immunotherapy, also called biologic therapy, is designed to boost the body's natural defenses to fight the cancer. It uses materials made either by the body or in a laboratory to improve, target, or restore immune system function.
Checkpoint inhibitors are an important type of immunotherapy used to treat colorectal cancer.
- Pembrolizumab (Keytruda). Pembrolizumab targets PD-1, a receptor on tumor cells, preventing the tumor cells from hiding from the immune system. Pembrolizumab is used to treat metastatic colorectal cancers that have a molecular feature called microsatellite instability (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR).
- Nivolumab (Opdivo). Nivolumab is used to treat people who are 12 or older and have MSI-H or dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer that has grown or spread after treatment with chemotherapy with a fluoropyrimidine (such as capecitabine and fluorouracil), oxaliplatin, and irinotecan.
- Nivolumab and ipilimumab (Yervoy) combination. This combination of checkpoint inhibitors received FDA approval in July 2018. It is approved to treat patients who are 12 or older and have MSI-H or dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer that has grown or spread after treatment with chemotherapy with a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan.
Side effects of immunotherapies
Different types of immunotherapy can cause different side effects. The most common side effects of immunotherapy may include fatigue, rash, diarrhea, nausea, fever, muscle pain, bone pain, joint pain, abdominal pain, itching, vomiting, cough, decreased appetite, and shortness of breath. Talk with your doctor about possible side effects for the immunotherapy recommended for you.