Targeting modulated vascular smooth muscle cells in atherosclerosis via FAP-directed immunotherapy - Science | AAAS

Patients with a particular form of bowel cancer remained free of recurrence for almost three years after receiving a short course of immunotherapy before surgery, according to new findings from the NEOPRISM-CRC clinical trial led by researchers at UCL and UCLH. The results, which are due to be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2026 in April, extend earlier findings from the trial. Those initial results showed that nine weeks of treatment with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab before surgery caused major tumor shrinkage in people with stage two or three bowel cancer.

image: KRAS mutation drives a TGF-beta-dependent, Treg-dominant immunosuppressive microenvironment. Combination of the KRASG12D inhibitor with CTLA-4 blockade suppresses TGF-beta signaling, impairs regulatory T cell function and restores effective antitumor immunity. KRAS mutations define a distinct molecular subset of gastric adenocarcinoma (GA), yet how oncogenic KRAS shapes the gastric tumor immune microenvironment - and drives resistance to immunotherapy - has remained poorly understood. KRAS alterations occur in approximately 10% of GA, functioning not only as potent oncogenic drivers but also as regulators of the tumor microenvironment.

The innovations and work being done to optimize FAP agents will likely "spill over" to other targets.