Immunotherapy of colorectal cancer

Despite improved therapeutic options colorectal cancer is still a malignant disease with a high mortality rate. During the last few years immunotherapy has become an important pillar of anti-cancer therapy in general. In colorectal cancer, using monoclonal antibodies (mAB) became daily standard in all lines of treatment. Besides mAb several experimental approaches are tested including therapeutic vaccination or cytokine application. However, no substantial benefit has been observed with these latter approaches. Here, we give an overview on established and selected experimental immunotherapies in colorectal cancer.