Abstract

Objective: To investigate immunotherapy as an adjuvant treatment following surgery for individuals with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC).
Methodology: This clinical trial included 110 colorectal patients of both sexes aged between 18–75 years divided randomly into two groups. In the intervention group, participants were administered a programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor; in the control group, the 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) regimen was administered. These were followed by recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) as well as immune response variables, particularly the count of Cluster of Differentiation 8 Positive (CD8+) T cells.
Results: The study involved 110 patients with no significant differences in their demographic data or disease characteristics between the two groups. The immunotherapy group had improved one-year RFS and OS as compared to the chemotherapy group; however, such differences were not significant. Immunotherapy produced a higher quality of life (QoL) and elevated levels of CD8+T cells at 6 and 12 months (p=0.0001). Univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed immunotherapy’s significant protective effect on recurrence (p=0.03).
Conclusion: The immunotherapy did appear to have better RFS and OS. This study found higher levels of CD8+ T cells and a better QoL to support that immunotherapy may be effective in complementing the current treatment for advanced CRC.

Key words: Immunotherapy, colorectal cancer, chemotherapy, recurrence-free survival, quality of life.