PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade-based combinational treatment: Immunotherapeutic amplification strategies against colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant tumours of the digestive system, and most patients are already in an advanced stage at the time of diagnosis. Moreover, current single-use immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), such as programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors, are only effective for some advanced CRC patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H), and most patients may be unable to benefit from it due to a lack of CD8+ T cells in the tumour microenvironment. Additionally, the subtype of CRC has emerged as a factor affecting treatment responses, with immunogenic subtypes carrying a better prognosis. In this review, we discuss bottlenecks encountered with the single use of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors and summarize the research status and mechanisms of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor-based immunotherapeutic amplification strategies, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, photomediated therapy and other immunotherapies used for colorectal cancer.