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All participants in the study of colon cancer patients remained cancer-free for approximately three years after receiving the experimental treatment.
Led by researchers at University College London and UCL Hospitals, this study suggests that a short course of immunotherapy before surgery can produce better results than the current standard of care for some patients.
This study focused on 32 patients with stage 2 or 3 colon cancer. These patients had tumors with a specific genetic profile called MMR-deficient or MSI-high, according to a press release.
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This profile, which is found in about 10% to 15% of people with colon cancer, indicates a faulty DNA repair system in the body, the researchers noted. However, scientists think that could make it easier for immunotherapy drugs to find and attack tumors.
The drug shrunk tumors in such a way that 59% of patients had no cancer symptoms left on the day of their surgery. (Stock)
Instead of receiving standard chemotherapy after surgery, these patients were given a drug called pembrolizumab before their surgery. The treatment lasted nine weeks.
Early data showed that the drug shrunk tumors in such a way that 59% of patients had no residual cancer symptoms at the time of surgery.
The latest data confirms that 33 months later, none of those patients have seen a return of the disease, including those who had small traces of cancer left after surgery that did not grow or spread again.
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“Seeing that no patients have relapsed after almost three years of follow-up is very encouraging, and strengthens our hope that pembrolizumab is a safe and effective treatment to improve outcomes in patients with high-risk colon cancer,” said principal investigator Dr. Kai-Keen Shiu, consultant medical oncologist at UCLH and professor at UCLH.
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With the usual approach of surgery followed by chemotherapy, about 25% of patients with this gene will see their cancer return within three years, according to the study.
The study was a small trial with only 32 people and only looked at a specific genetic group of patients. (Stock)
The research team also used personal blood tests to monitor patients. This test looks for small pieces of tumor DNA in the blood, allowing doctors to determine if the treatment was working before surgery.
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“When tumor DNA disappeared from the blood, patients were more likely to have no residual cancer, and this is similar to the long-term results we are seeing now,” said first author Yanrong Jiang, a clinical PhD student at the UCL Cancer Institute, in the release.
The study had limitations, the researchers noted. It was a small trial with only 32 people and only looked at a specific genetic group of patients, meaning the results may not apply to everyone with bowel cancer.
“We can now predict who will respond to treatment using a personalized blood test and immune profile,” said one of the research team members. (Stock)
Doctors need to follow patients for a long time to make sure the cancer does not come back, they added.
Still, the researchers shared their hope for the future of personal care.
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“What’s exciting is that we can now predict who will respond to treatment using personalized blood tests and immune profiling,” Shiu said.
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“These tools can help us refine our approach, identify patients who do well and who may need less pre- and post-operative treatment.”
The results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2026 Annual Meeting in San Diego last month.
