Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, have shown that the amount of a protein called CD74 can indicate which people with bowel cancer may respond best to immunotherapy.
If integrated into the clinic, testing for this protein could potentially allow hundreds of previously ineligible patients to benefit from this type of treatment.
Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, and the second most common cause of cancer death. The disease falls into two types: one where proteins that repair errors in DNA are missing or deficient (the deficient subtype), and one where this machinery is intact (the proficient subtype).
Cancer immunotherapy drugs, which boost the immune system to fight the tumour, have revolutionised the treatment of the deficient subtype of colorectal cancer.
However, these drugs only work in about half of these individuals, and people with the proficient subtype, who represent ~90% of all cases, currently aren’t eligible for immunotherapy treatment.
In a study published today in Cancer Cell, the researchers investigated why immunotherapy only works for certain people with bowel cancer, and how we might increase the number of patients who can benefit from this treatment. They found that the levels of expression of a protein called CD74 can predict response to immunotherapy, independent of subtype.
Credit: The Francis Crick Institute