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VIDEO: Atezolizumab, cobimetinib in combination demonstrate activity in colon cancer
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Results of a phase 1b study presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting may be “the first crack in the ceiling” in regard to the use of immunotherapy in colon cancer, according to J. Randolph Hecht, MD, of UCLA.
Hecht reviews the limited activity seen with immunotherapy among patients with gastrointestinal cancers, including colon cancer, and the role that microsatellite stability appears to play in terms of this incomplete response.
“One of the problems has been that colorectal cancer with microsatellite instability has a lot of infiltrating T cells that can be treated with a PD-1 inhibitor, but microsatellite-stable tumors do not,” Hecht said.
Results presented by Johanna C. Bendell, MD, of the Sarah Cannon Research Institute, and colleagues demonstrated responses to the combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq, Roche) and cobimetinib (Cotellic, Genentech).
“While there have been virtually zero patients with [microsatellite stable] colon cancer who have responses to PD-1 or PD-L1 agents, four out of 22 did [respond],” Hecht told HemOnc Today. “This is incredible news.”