Colon cancer breakthrough keeps patients cancer-free for nearly 3 years

Admin on 11 / 05 / 2026 under #Colon_cancer

A short burst of immunotherapy before surgery is delivering surprisingly powerful results for a specific type of colorectal cancer. Patients in a UK-led trial who received just nine weeks of pembrolizumab prior to surgery have remained cancer-free nearly three years later—an outcome that challenges the standard approach of surgery followed by months of chemotherapy.

A new clinical trial suggests that giving immunotherapy before surgery may dramatically improve outcomes for certain colorectal cancer patients. In the NEOPRISM-CRC study, patients treated with a short course of immunotherapy instead of chemotherapy after surgery have remained cancer-free for nearly three years.

The trial, led by researchers at UCL and UCLH, found that just nine weeks of treatment with pembrolizumab before surgery led to strong and lasting responses in patients with stage two or three colorectal cancer.

No Cancer Recurrence After Nearly Three Years

Early results showed that 59% of patients had no detectable cancer after completing immunotherapy and undergoing surgery. Now, after 33 months of follow-up, none of the patients have experienced a relapse.

This includes both patients whose tumors completely disappeared and those who still had small traces of cancer after treatment. In all cases, the remaining cancer did not grow or spread over time.

This outcome stands in contrast to standard care, where about 25% of patients treated with surgery followed by chemotherapy are expected to see their cancer return within three years. The findings suggest that starting with immunotherapy may offer longer-lasting protection.

Personalized Blood Tests May Predict Treatment Success

Researchers also explored why the treatment worked so well and how to identify patients most likely to benefit. By analyzing blood samples, they developed personalized tests that can detect whether cancer DNA is still present in the bloodstream.

These tests may allow doctors to determine early on whether the treatment has been successful.

Dr. Kai-Keen Shiu, Chief Investigator of the trial from UCL Cancer Institute and a Consultant Medical Oncologist at UCLH, said: "Seeing that no patients have experienced a cancer recurrence after almost three years of follow-up is extremely encouraging and strengthens our confidence that pembrolizumab is a safe and highly effective treatment to improve outcomes in patients with high-risk bowel cancers.

"What is particularly exciting is that we now may be able to predict who will respond to the treatment using personalized blood tests and immune profiling. These tools could help us tailor our approach, identifying patients who are doing well and may need less therapy before and after surgery versus patients at higher risk of disease progression or relapse who need additional treatment."

Understanding Colon Cancer Risk and Survival

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, with about 44,000 new cases each year. While it primarily affects older adults, diagnoses among people under 50 have been rising.