Background and rationale

More effective therapies for peritoneal metastases (PM) from colorectal cancer (CRC) are urgently needed. Only a minority of patients respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Modulation of the tumor immune microenvironment by intraperitoneal (IP) administration of immune modulators such as agonists of the toll like receptors (TLRs) may elicit responsiveness to ICIs.

Hypothesis and Aims

We hypothesize that in situ immune modulation using IP administration of TLR agonists using nanoparticle (NP) formulations may be an effective treatment of colorectal PM, either as a single agent or in combination with ICIs. We aim to characterize the immune contexture of colorectal PM, to develop NPs for oxaliplatin (OX) and for TLR agonists, and to analyse toxicity, biodistribution, and anticancer efficacy of the selected NPs.