The latest research result, the immune score test, can now more accurately define the disease progression of colon cancer patients. According to an international study of more than 2,500 patients, immune scores have been shown to be effective in predicting which patients have a high risk of tumor recurrence and can benefit from intensive treatment after surgery.
The severity of colon cancer needs to be basically estimated based on its spread and metastasis in the colon. This estimate of cancer aggressiveness and the risk of recurrence after treatment will improve treatment. For decades, it has been believed that the immune response of patients will have a beneficial effect on cancer. The latest research shows that the invasion of cancerous tumors by immune cells can be a good indicator of the direction of development of colorectal cancer, becoming a potential prognostic tool to identify the immune cell population with the most information about disease progression.
The creation of this immunological test is suitable for clinical practice. It works by quantifying the density of two immune cells in the tumor and their invasion margin: total T cells (CD3 +) and killer T cells (cytotoxic CD8 +). This study evaluated the prognostic value of patients with very large-scale colon cancer, including 2681 patients from different centers. According to the risk of recurrence (5 years after surgery) and survival rate assessment, patients were divided into three groups (high, medium and low) immune scores to predict prognostic performance. The results show that patients with high immune scores present the lowest risk of recurrence and longer survival time.
Of the 700 patients, only 8% of patients with high scores relapsed after 5 years. However, the relapse rate of patients with middle and low scores increased significantly, reaching 19% and 32%, respectively. These findings indicate that the immune score provides an accurate and reliable assessment of the risk of colon cancer recurrence. Use the risk of recurrence to improve individual patient treatment strategies, especially changes in chemotherapy regimens. In view of the highly positive results of colon cancer, immunoscore tests for other cancers are under way, which will revolutionize the treatment of cancer patients.
