Dr. Berk on Immunotherapy Options for Patients With Colon Cancer

Seth Berk, MD, section chief of gastrointestinal hematology/oncology at Virtua Memorial Hospital, discusses the use of immunotherapy in colon cancer.

One study presented at the 2018 ESMO Congress examined the use of immunotherapy for use in patients with preoperative colon cancer whose diagnoses were based on biopsy. Investigators found that those patients experienced a near complete or complete remission nearly 100% of the time prior to surgery when they first received a combination of ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo).

Berk stressed that while the use of ipilimumab and nivolumab are not game changers, the findings give researchers and oncologists reason to wonder if these agents will be offered as adjuvant therapy for a small number of patients with colon cancer.