Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Feb 15, 2023; 15(2): 215-224
Published online Feb 15, 2023. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v15.i2.215
Challenges to addressing the unmet medical needs for immunotherapy targeting cold colorectal cancer
Keun-Yeong Jeong
Keun-Yeong Jeong, Research and Development Center, PearlsinMires, Seoul 03690, South Korea
Author contributions: Jeong KY designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; Jeong KY contributed to the discussion and design of the manuscript, the writing, and editing of the manuscript, illustrations, and review of the literature.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author reports no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Keun-Yeong Jeong, PhD, Chief Technician, Founder and CEO, Research and Development Center, PearlsinMires, 120 Geobukgol-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03690, South Korea. alvirus@naver.com
Received: September 28, 2022
Peer-review started: September 28, 2022
First decision: December 14, 2022
Revised: December 18, 2022
Accepted: January 9, 2023
Article in press: January 9, 2023
Published online: February 15, 2023
Processing time: 139 Days and 16.9 Hours
Abstract

With the establishment of the immune surveillance mechanism since the 1950s, attempts have been made to activate the immune system for cancer treatment through the discovery of various cytokines or the development of antibodies up to now. The fruits of these efforts have contributed to the recognition of the 3rd generation of anticancer immunotherapy as the mainstream of cancer treatment. However, the limitations of cancer immunotherapy are also being recognized through the conceptual establishment of cold tumors recently, and colorectal cancer (CRC) has become a major issue from this therapeutic point of view. Here, it is emphasized that non-clinical strategies to overcome the immunosuppressive environment and clinical trials based on these basic investigations are being made on the journey to achieve better treatment outcomes for the treatment of cold CRC.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Immunotherapy; Cell therapy; Checkpoint inhibitor; Cancer vaccine; Cytokine therapy

Core Tip: There have been continuing attempts to treat colorectal cancer (CRC) with immunotherapies, and various methods of converting cold into hot tumors have gone through trial and error up to now. Based on this background, this editorial introduces the concept of cold CRC and various strategies across non-clinical and clinical for enhancing immunotherapeutic efficacy and further encourages the journey to an advanced level of immunotherapies targeting cold CRC.