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Identifying Appropriate Colorectal Cancer-Associated Antigens for the Clinical Trials

  • Immunotherapy of Malignancy (R Kim, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Colorectal Cancer Reports

Abstract

Clinical trials using immunotherapy as a targeted approach to the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) have limited clinical efficacy. Lack of proper identification of colorectal cancer-associated antigens and complexity of immunological functions could have hampered the proper therapeutic development. The review focuses on the tumor-associated antigens (TAA) that have been tested in clinical trial setting for treatment of advanced CRC. Since many of the tumor-associated antigens including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), beta human chorionic gonadotrophin (β-hCG), MUC1, guanylyl cyclase C (GUCY2C), epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR), epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), p53, and ras are highly expressed on colorectal cancer cells, these antigens have been used as targets for vaccination strategies. We will discuss the basic structural importance of different TAA and illustrate clinical studies showing benefits and limitations of each of the targets. Careful review and selection of the most appropriate CRC-associated antigens and better understanding of molecular biology-related immune modulation can lead to improved clinical outcome.

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Minsig Choi and Archana Thakur declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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  1. Stony Brook University, HSC 15-053C, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-8191, USA

    Minsig Choi

  2. Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA

    Archana Thakur

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  1. Minsig Choi
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Correspondence to Minsig Choi.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Immunotherapy of Malignancy

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Choi, M., Thakur, A. Identifying Appropriate Colorectal Cancer-Associated Antigens for the Clinical Trials. Curr Colorectal Cancer Rep 11, 29–36 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11888-014-0256-z

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