Efficient immunotherapies against colorectal cancer

Congratulations to Professor Mikaël Pittet, holder of the ISREC Foundation’s Immuno-Oncology Chair: his research, performed in collaboration with scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has made it possible to explain why colorectal cancer is resistant to immunotherapies, and to put forward a new, potentially efficient therapeutic combination. The study of the composition of the immune cells present in liver metastases of colorectal cancer revealed the absence of dendritic cells in these tumors. The antitumoral properties of these immune cells are essential for the proper functioning of the immune system, and reinforcing the presence of these cells in the tumor may thus improve the efficiency of immunotherapies.