Dustin Deming, MD

Colon and rectal cancers are deadly diseases. The currently used treatments can improve the survival for patients, but new options are still needed. Some patients can benefit from drugs that speed up the body’s immune system against the cancer. Unfortunately, it is not currently clear which cancer patients are most likely to benefit from these treatments. Cancers can, in many ways, act like wounds that never heal. The scar tissue that forms around cancers contains important aspects that can prevent how your body’s immune system can see the cancer as abnormal. Additionally, in some cancers there are features that can actually stimulate the immune system. By better understanding these factors, we might be better able to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from these immune treatments. Also, understanding these processes can help make better immune drug combinations that can overcome these immune inhibiting factors. In this study, we first examine how these factors within the scars around cancer cells change the ability of the immune system to detect and enter cancers. Next, we look at which factors are associated with immune treatment response. Lastly, we study new treatments that might convert immune inhibiting cancer features to ones that stimulate the immune system.