New Rectal Cancer Treatment Shows Promise With Immunotherapy

A new study from China has found that adding immunotherapy to standard treatment for advanced rectal cancer may help more patients fully respond to therapy—without causing serious new side effects.

The trial included patients with locally advanced rectal cancer that had normal DNA repair (called pMMR/MSS). All patients received a short course of radiation, followed by chemotherapy. Half also received a PD-1 inhibitor (Sintilimab), a type of immunotherapy that helps the immune system attack cancer.

The results were encouraging. In the group that got immunotherapy, half of the patients had a complete response—meaning no signs of cancer were found after treatment. This was nearly double the rate seen in the group that did not get immunotherapy.

Some patients were able to avoid surgery completely and chose a “watch and wait” approach instead, since their tumors had completely disappeared.

Side effects were similar between the groups. Most were manageable, like low white blood cell counts. A small number of patients in the immunotherapy group had more serious issues, including inflammation of the pancreas or muscles, but these were rare.

These early results suggest that adding a PD-1 blocker to standard treatment could become a powerful option for people with this type of rectal cancer. More research is ongoing to see if this approach also helps people stay cancer-free in the long term.

If you’re facing rectal cancer, ask your doctor whether immunotherapy could be part of your treatment plan—or whether you might qualify for a clinical trial.