Avelumab Combined With Cetuximab and Irinotecan for Treatment Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Microsatellite Stable Cancer

Summary

Cancer immunotherapy with immunostimulatory antibodies targeting the CTLA-4 or PD-1/PD-L1 pathways has demonstrated its efficacy in variable proportions of cancer. For metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) it appeared that only the small subgroup of patients with MSI-H tumors (microsatellite instability-high phenotype) had a clinically meaningful response to the anti-PD-1- L1 antibodies. In the majority group of non-MSI-H CRC (90-95% of patients), current research expect that additional means would be able to render the tumor "immunogenic" (like MSI-H CRC) and increase the intratumoral immune infiltrate which is the prerequisite to observe a benefit from PD1-PD-L1 inhibitors. Combinations of immune checkpoint inhibitors and procedures that increase intratumoral immune responses, such as targeted therapy, are actively explored.

Timeline

Start

2018-10-03

Primary completion

2023-12-31

Completion

2023-12-31

Publications

• Huyghe N, Benidovskaya E, Masoodi T, Sinapi I, De Cuyper A, Vempalli F, Beyaert S, Bouzin C, Osorio FM, Ferraro L, van Baren N, Helaers R, Goffette P, Ghaye B, van Maanen A, Castella ML, Ceccarelli M, Bedognetti D, Galon J, Hendrickx WRL, Carrasco J, Van den Eynde M. Impact of the tumor immune contexture in microsatellite-stable metastatic colorectal cancer treated with avelumab, cetuximab, and irinotecan. Cell Rep Med. 2025 Jul 15;6(7):102201. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.102201. Epub 2025 Jun 24.

Drugs

Indications