Search

Spontaneous chylous effusions are rare; however, they have been observed by independent investigators in patients treated with RET tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

Upper gastrointestinal cancers are among the leading causes of cancer deaths worldwide with exceptionally poor prognosis, which is largely attributable to frequently delayed diagnosis. While effective screening is critical for early detection, the highly variable incidence of upper gastrointestinal cancers presents challenges, rendering universal screening programs suboptimal in most populations globally. Optimal strategies in regions of modest incidence such as the U.S. require a targeted approach, focused on high-risk individuals based on demographic, familial, and clinicopathologic risk factors. Assessment of underlying precancerous lesions has key implications for risk stratification and informing clinical decisions to improve patient outcomes.

Following initial successes in melanoma treatment, immunotherapy has rapidly become established as a major treatment modality for multiple types of solid cancers, including a subset of colorectal cancers (CRCs). Two programmed cell death 1 (PD1)-blocking antibodies, pembrolizumab and nivolumab, have shown efficacy in patients with metastatic CRC that is mismatch-repair-deficient and microsatellite instability-high (dMMR–MSI-H), and have been granted accelerated FDA approval. In contrast to most other treatments for metastatic cancer, immunotherapy achieves long-term durable remission in a subset of patients, highlighting the tremendous promise of immunotherapy in treating dMMR–MSI-H metastatic CRC. Here, we review the clinical development of immune checkpoint inhibition in CRC leading to regulatory approvals for the treatment of dMMR–MSI-H CRC. We focus on new advances in expanding the efficacy of immunotherapy to early-stage CRC and CRC that is mismatch-repair-proficient and has low microsatellite instability (pMMR–MSI-L) and discuss emerging approaches for targeting the immune microenvironment, which might complement immune checkpoint inhibition.