Meng XY, Cai YM, Sun NN, Zhang WH, Cui RX, Zhang L, Zheng CC, Sun Z, Luo WX, Wang FW. Preliminary exploration of programmed death 1 inhibitor combined with fruquintinib and docetaxel for advanced colorectal cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2025; 17(12): 112548 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i12.112548]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Feng-Wei Wang, MD, PhD, Department of Oncology, Tianjin Union Medical Center of Nankai University, No. 190 Jieyuan Road, Tianjin 300121, China. wfengwei2004@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
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Retrospective Study
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Dec 15, 2025 (publication date) through Dec 17, 2025
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Publication Name
World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology
ISSN
1948-5204
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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Meng XY, Cai YM, Sun NN, Zhang WH, Cui RX, Zhang L, Zheng CC, Sun Z, Luo WX, Wang FW. Preliminary exploration of programmed death 1 inhibitor combined with fruquintinib and docetaxel for advanced colorectal cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2025; 17(12): 112548 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i12.112548]
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Dec 15, 2025; 17(12): 112548 Published online Dec 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i12.112548
Preliminary exploration of programmed death 1 inhibitor combined with fruquintinib and docetaxel for advanced colorectal cancer
Xian-Yang Meng, Yu-Mei Cai, Ning-Ning Sun, Wen-Hua Zhang, Rui-Xue Cui, Long Zhang, Cheng-Cheng Zheng, Zhen Sun, Wei-Xuan Luo, Feng-Wei Wang
Xian-Yang Meng, Yu-Mei Cai, Ning-Ning Sun, Wen-Hua Zhang, Rui-Xue Cui, Long Zhang, Cheng-Cheng Zheng, Zhen Sun, Wei-Xuan Luo, Feng-Wei Wang, Department of Oncology, Tianjin Union Medical Center of Nankai University, Tianjin 300121, China
Author contributions: Meng XY and Wang FW contributed to the manuscript conceptualization; Meng XY contributed to the methodology, investigation, formal analysis, and writing - original draft; Cai YM, Sun NN, Zhang WH, Cui RX, Zhang L, Zheng CC, Sun Z, and Luo WX contributed to the data curation; Wang FW contributed to the funding acquisition, resources, supervision, and writing - review & editing.
Institutional review board statement: All procedures involving human participants were approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Tianjin Union Medical Center of Nankai University (Approval No. 2025-B86) and were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was waived by the Medical Ethics Committee of Tianjin Union Medical Center of Nankai University due to the retrospective nature of the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Feng-Wei Wang, MD, PhD, Department of Oncology, Tianjin Union Medical Center of Nankai University, No. 190 Jieyuan Road, Tianjin 300121, China. wfengwei2004@163.com
Received: August 4, 2025 Revised: August 27, 2025 Accepted: November 3, 2025 Published online: December 15, 2025 Processing time: 132 Days and 6.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated significant efficacy in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with microsatellite instability-high or deficient mismatch repair. However, their efficacy as monotherapy is limited in microsatellite stable/proficient mismatch repair (MSS/pMMR) subtypes.
AIM
To provide an evidence-based rationale for optimizing later-line therapeutic strategies in advanced MSS/pMMR CRC.
METHODS
This study conducted a systematic retrospective analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a triple-combination regimen comprising programmed death 1 inhibitors, fruquintinib and docetaxel administered as third-line therapy in 13 patients with advanced MSS/pMMR CRC.
RESULTS
Primary endpoints included progression-free survival and disease control rate. Intention-to-treat analysis showed median progression-free survival 7.0 months, median overall survival 18.5 months, disease control rate 61.5%, with manageable toxicity.
CONCLUSION
Although this is a small-sample retrospective study, it preliminarily validates the synergistic effect of programmed death 1 inhibitors combined with fruquintinib and docetaxel in MSS/pMMR CRC, providing a novel strategy with translational significance for later-line treatment in advanced patients.
Core Tip: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a novel triple-combination regimen - programmed death 1 inhibitor + fruquintinib + docetaxel - as a third-line treatment for advanced microsatellite stable/proficient mismatch repair colorectal cancer. Primary endpoints included progression-free survival and disease control rate. Intention-to-treat analysis showed median progression-free survival 7.0 months, median overall survival 18.5 months, disease control rate 61.5%, with manageable toxicity. This study preliminarily validates the synergistic effect of programmed death 1 inhibitors combined with fruquintinib and docetaxel in microsatellite stable colorectal cancer, providing a novel strategy with translational significance for later-line treatment in advanced patients.
